Encore: Initiation
by Megafighter3
Summary: A rewrite of RWBY focusing on character development and contextual action, filling the gaps within the story while trying to keep to the spirit of the work. Written by a semi-fan and his grumpy friend.
1. Red Hood

The ground was blanketed in white as the evening snow fell down on the island of Patch. In spite of the cold weather, the market was busy with people buying food and clothes. A young girl walked along in a red hood that covered her dark red hair, her bright green eyes scanning the market until she saw the liquor store. The girl stopped before entering as she unhooked a folded scythe from her back, setting it down on the brick wall and stepping into the store. Inside the store were many adults looking over bottles of wines, brandies and spirits, some stopping to notice the child who made her way to the counter, clearing her throat to get the attention of the man standing behind it. The old gentleman turned from wiping specks of dust off a bottle to the little girl. "Well, hello there child. Are you lost? None of these drinks are for you, ya know." the counterman said with a slight rasp to his voice.

"No, I'm here to buy something for Professor Port. He's visiting my Uncle Crow and wanted something strong! Uh… I think he said he wanted something called…" the little girl said, trailing off to remember what the professor had told her to get. The shopkeeper smiled and headed off before she could fully remember, coming back with a bottle filled with murky black liquid. The red-hooded child though it was a bottle of ink.

"A bottle of fresh Hydra, straight from the barrel. That'll be 25 Lien." He said, the girl opening up her pouch and pouring out some coins. The man behind the counter took what he needed as she placed the bottle of Hydra into a larger bag, carelessly using the loaf of bread to cushion the ale. "Be careful out there, kid. Beowolves been around the forest and hunt at night. You oughta stay at the inn until the morning and-" he warned to what turned out to be an empty spot on the floor as the child was already rushing out the door.

The young girl kept up her pace, rushing through the streets and bumping into citizens of the town, occasionally knocking an unfortunate woman or child onto their back from her breakneck pace. She knew that taking the trail was a way home, but it would nearly be an 8-hour winding trail through the mountains, running through the forest was faster and more fun, according to her. So, she made her way into the forest, weaving her way through trees and jumping onto them, bouncing off one and onto the other. Her hood flew off, exposing her short crimson hair to the wind as her eyes twinkled in excitement. A shrill cry of joy echoed throughout the forest as she dismounted from another tree, leaping five feet off the ground and soaring through the air off the edge of a small cliff face.

The little girl made a flailing drop into a mound of snow, managing to not harm herself as she pulled herself out, still laughing while she brushed the snow out of her hair. Before she could check the bag to see if the groceries had survived the fall, she heard the sound of growling just over her shoulder, turning her head to see a pack of mahogany black wolves with glowing red eyes staring her down. Some had snow tipping parts of their fur while others had blood dripping from their sharp fangs but all had slowly advanced on the small human. She shakily unhooked the scythe from the strap placed over her shoulder to keep it still. She unfolded the scythe, putting herself into a fighting stance, her breathing growing rapid as the wolves began to circle her.

One went straight for the throat, but she ducked at the last second, spinning the light alloy scythe into both of her hands to lob it in half with a shower of black gore. Realizing she was in danger, she slammed the blade down into the ground, attempting to pole vault herself over the pack before realizing she wasn't able to get enough distance. So her light body took a spill on top of one of the wolves, knocking it onto its side. She struggled to stand, stumbling onto her feet and leaping into the air, using the inside curve of her blade to gain enough momentum to swing away with speed, though her light body was luckily not heavy enough to slash through the branch. She tumbled forward after landing, rolling onto her feet and breaking into her full gait. She could usually beat her sister in a foot race, but those short legs could only do so much. The large pack of 20 or more wolves took chase, dashing between the trees with inhuman levels of skill, the gap she made with her acrobatics only worked for a couple of seconds.

She gripped her handle and spread her legs wide, rotating her body to bring the blade back and land a wide, if desperate slash through a couple of wolves, though with the wave of red eyes glaring at her.. she realized then and there that there was no way for her to fight all of these on her own. She gasped and cried out for help, turning back to keep running away. Two more launched for her, which made her only just realize she tripped on a tree root, falling face first on the ground and watching as both of them miss. She turned onto her back, her cloak getting mud and snow on the red fabric as she looked at her doom, but one tried to climb over her, she planted a firm kick into its throat and used the moment to roll backward onto her feet and keep running.

She kept running, she didn't stop to look back, breathe or even think... she just took off as fast as her legs could take her. It felt like hours, or even days though all that has passed was just mere minutes as she blindingly ran into a tree in the middle of her panic. The wolves slowly approached her, none of them were even exhausted from chasing her so long. She pressed her back against the tree, feeling as if she couldn't even breathe from how frozen up in fear she was. A white wolf slowly walked in front of the pack, the other black wolves slowly acquiescing to their pack leader so it could make the kill. Its breath misted on her neck as it got ready to bite when suddenly a loud shout could be heard echoing through the woods, a yellow blur smashing into the white wolf and causing it to barrel away against the ground before smacking quite comically into a tree.

"Hands off, you bastards!" shouted a young woman with long blonde hair and matching green eyes, cracking her neck and slamming her gauntlet-clad knuckles together, a burst of fire emitting from the golden gauntlets.

"Y-Yang!" The redhead shouted from surprise. "How'd you find me?" She asked, though she couldn't get the details, the long blonde hair was obvious from the blur of her teary eyes.

"It's kind of obvious when you see a big red blur running through the snow, Ruby," Yang said with a smile as she ruffled her little sister's hair. The time was short to celebrate as she turned to fight some of them off, her heavy gauntlets smashing into the face of one of them to send it tumbling away before the loud blast of a large gun knocked another one backward.

"Save the reunions, children. We need to make it to safety!" came a gruff voice from behind. Ruby's eyes began to clear as she saw a man in a maroon jacket wielding a shotgun and sporting a quite magnificent mustache, He fired at another charging wolf as Yang picked Ruby back up by the hand.

"I know when we need to leave," Yang stated, before cracking her knuckles and turning to the large recovering white wolf. "But I'm not going without taking this one out." She recklessly declared.

"Yeah, get em' sis!" Ruby said while sort of hiding behind her. The wolves slowly approached Yang, but got scared back by another extremely loud two gunshots from Port's shotgun.

"Back, you damn beasts!" He growled out in his raspy baritone. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Yang. I don't want Ruby to lose a sister just because of your pride."He called out as Yang continued to charge the large white wolf, she swung a blow at it, though it swiftly dodged to the side. The blonde spun back and kicked it square in the jaw, though not as hard of a hit as her gauntlet, it did stumble on its feet. The wolf leaped forward, sharpened and unnatural claws cutting into the sleeve of her long trench coat and turning it into shreds. She sprung back onto her hands, making some distance with a backflip as the wolf snarled its teeth at her.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted, dashing as a red blur behind the wolf, her wrist wrapping around its tail and tugging it back. "Go get 'em!" she shouted, Yang smirking and ducking down for a huge uppercut to the wolf's jaw, launching it into the air and forcing it to pivot over Ruby's head, slamming it onto its back. Ruby grabbed her blade, cutting the tail clean off with a yelp of sheer pain coming from the inhuman beast.

Port fired another shot, the pack dispersing as Ruby ran off, bloodstained tail in her hand. Yang followed after her sister as they soon saw their uncle's wood cabin slowly come into view, a single lantern guiding them back as Port held the rear, keeping his ears open for anything else coming near them. The three soon made inside where Crow was waiting.

"Ruby! Yang!" Crow cried out with his arms outstretched, Ruby rushing to hug her uncle, Yang walking over to them. She was glad to see her sister was alright, moving aside to allow Port to step into the cabin.

"We were very fortunate to have gotten there before there was any serious damage. She'll be fine after a bit of rest." Port said, Crow nodding a bit.

"That's good to hear. Thank you, Peter. You didn't need to go out there when I could have." Crow said with a sigh of relief.

"And have them lose their beloved uncle? I wouldn't think of it!" Port said with a chuckle as Ruby let go of Crow, walking over with her head down.

"Mr. Port… I'm sorry about losing the ale…" Ruby said, digging her foot into the floor. In her panic, she had run off without her bag, leaving the groceries she had bought behind. Port let out a guffaw and pulled her hood over her head.

"The ale doesn't matter, child. As long as you're both safe, then I can handle not having a drink. Especially not after a battle like that!" he said in a reassuring tone before turning his gaze to Yang. "Now Yang, before we went to get your sister, I had asked you a question. While the trip back may not have given you much of an opportunity to think about it, I would appreciate an answer before we went to sleep. So, would you be interested in-" Port began, Yang raising her hand.

"With all due respect, Peter, I can't bring myself to go to Beacon. I can't leave Ruby alone when there are still Grimm out there that could hurt or kill her. We got lucky this time, but if I leave for Vale then that means it'll just be Ruby and uncle Crow, and Uncle Crow can't be there forever… so unless Ruby goes with me, then I won't go." Yang explained, grabbing onto Ruby's shoulder and burying the back of her little sister's head awkwardly into her chest.

"Hrm… she's a bit young, but her speed is not something that can simply be ignored. Very few could outrun a pack of Beowolves for that long…" Port contemplated, Crow walking over and patting his old teacher on the shoulder.

"Let's leave it up to Ruby. Well, Ruby, do you want to enroll in Beacon Academy?" Crow asked, Ruby's eyes lighting up. She had heard stories about Beacon from stories both her parents, her uncle and even Yang told her. That it was the greatest combat school in Vale and that those who graduated would become full-fledged Hunters. Every since she was little, she wanted to be a hero like the ones in stories she was read before bed, and while she was very happy for Yang to have Port, a representative of Beacon to scout her... going herself? It was a dream come true, so she squeaked in pure joy.

"Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes! YES!" she shouted, her pitch growing higher with each successive "yes" Port smiling and shaking her hand, which was already shaking enough.

"Then it's settled. I'll be seeing both of you at Beacon Academy soon. You can begin packing in the morning," Port said, letting out a yawn. "Until then, we should all get some rest."

Ruby nodded, ecstatically running up to her bedroom with Yang following her. Ruby quickly leapt onto her bed, scrambling to get her red cloak off. She quickly unbuckled it, tossing the cloth aside as it landed on the entering Yang. "Relax, Lil sis. We still need to sleep." Yang said, throwing off the cloak.

"But I'm so excited! I don't know how I can sleep when I know that tomorrow I'm going to Beacon!" Ruby shouted back, throwing her sheets up, which fell onto Yang like the cloak had.

"Okay quit it," Yang said as she threw the sheets back onto her sister and stepped over to her bed. The blonde sat on the bed, unzipping her boots as she contemplated whether to throw them at Ruby in revenge when she noticed that Ruby had gone from excitedly listing everything she was going to take with her to dead silent. Yang turned her head to see that her little sister had fallen asleep within seconds.

Yang smiled, walking over to the bookshelf where Ruby kept her stories that she'd been collecting throughout the years. She found a red and gold bound book named " _Monsters and Where to Find Them; A Compilation of Remnant's Grimm Fauna_." She softly strolled back across the smooth wooden floor in her socks, sitting back on the bed with a soft squeak of the springs. "G'night, Ruby." She said, opening the book and resting it on her sleeping face. Ruby had always read before bed and would always fall asleep with the book landing on her head. Yang turned herself around, pulling off her socks and turning her head to the window, watching as the snow continued its fall, covering the forest in white.


	2. Mirror of Ice

A young woman sat on a locker room bench, carefully placing a set of glowing crystals into individual vials. She carefully brushed her light blonde hair away from her ice blue eyes, mindful of the crystal residue on her palms. She slid the small vials into a bandoleer, checking the chamber of her sword. Six crystals. Red, Teal, Gray, Amber, Light Purple and White. She lightly spun the chamber as a voice rang out in the silence. "A-Are you ready, Ms. Schnee?" asked a woman with brunette hair and matching eyes, a pair of large rabbit ears sticking from her hair.

"Not yet, Velvet… if you would assist me with the bandoleer," the young woman said, standing up and spreading out her arms. The rabbit woman nodded, picking up the bandoleer and slinging it over her master's shoulder, pulling it back to buckle it together.

"W-we found someone from S-Signal Ac-Academy to fight you," Velvet said timidly. "D-Dove Bronzewing."

"There is a representative from Beacon, correct?" Ms. Schnee asked, Velvet nodding.

"Gl-Glynda G-Goodwitch, Deputy Headmistress…" she said, looking down as she contemplated asking this next question. She swallowed heavily, pulling her head up. "Ms. Schnee… W-Weiss... d-do you need this to be done in a massive st-stadium? Wouldn't it be easier to ha-have this at Beacon's dueling grounds?" she asked, Weiss halting her chamber spinning and turning to her Faunus servant. She answered Velvet's question with a question of her own.

"Is my father in the audience?" she asked, Velvet nodding. "Then this is an appropriate audience, the daughter of the owner of a massive Dust franchise deserves the highest of attention, respect and representation," she answered, sheathing her rapier and heading towards the corridor that leads her down into a massive stadium, a voice ringing out from the intercom.

"Ladies and gentleman, this contest is scheduled for 15 minutes and will continue until the time limit or until a competitor cannot stand for 10 seconds." The announcer declared, the lights dimming to black as a spotlight shined on black silk curtains."Introducing the competitors, representing Schnee Dust LLC, Weiss Schnee," the speakers blared out, the curtain opening to reveal Weiss, dressed in a light blue bolero jacket over her dress, which was the same color. She calmly curtsied to the massive crowd that was roaring in applause. The only ones silent were a woman with blonde hair and green eyes, pushing up a pair of glasses. She was wearing The woman, who Weiss recognized as Glynda Goodwitch, was wearing a white suit and black business skirt. She was seated with a laptop set in her lap, waiting for the match to begin. Seating next to her was her father in a white business suit and dark blue tie. He simply sat there, silently watching his daughter. Weiss turned her head to the other side of the curtain as the announcer introduced her opponent. "And her opponent, representing Signal Academy, Dove Bronzewing!" he shouted as the curtain revealed a young man with short brown hair and dark blue eyes wearing tan leather armor. The two fighters stepped closer to each other, Dove offering a hand.

"It is a great honor to fight you, Ms. Schnee," Dove said politely, shaking her hand. Weiss nodded, breaking the handshake after a minute and turning to face the crowd.

"I would like to dedicate this match to my father, the owner of Schnee Dust LLC and the patriarch of the Schnee family, Erich Schnee!" Weiss declared, getting a modest applause from those within the Schnee business. Erich simply nodded, Weiss heading to her corner and trying to avoid her father's judging eyes.

Her hands were shaking, she could feel the glare of her father at the back of her neck, it made her feel oddly cold, the fact she was in front of a crowd didn't help, but the shiver of her hands steadied when she grabbed her blade. The two unsheathed their swords, Weiss spinning the chamber until it came to a stop on the White Crystal. She shouted out "Kalt!" as she pressed the trigger beneath the chamber, the blade glowing bright white and becoming covered in a cold mist. Dove ducked into a stance to show he was ready to react, but she spun the blade on her fingers before planting it into the ground. He was confused and just sort of stared at her face, which was currently in a smug little smirk. He suddenly felt a chill up his spine, one that made him feel like he needed to move.

He couldn't, the ground leading up to him was coated with a thin veneer of shimmering clear ice, turning white just before wrapping around his feet and ankles and locking him in place. "And... Eins!" She shouted, Dove staring at his feet and a reflection of Weiss lunging forward with a leap, her feet landing perfectly on the slick ice and using all her momentum to try and land a fast thrust on her rooted opponent. He struggled and gasped for air, lifting his blade at the last second to block with a metallic clang echoing in the stadium. He stumbled back as Weiss tumbled under his arm, his leading foot breaking free from the ice as she slashed to try and hit him in the back of his head. "Zwei!" She shouted, through his falling back continued and whiffed over his head, landing flat on his back as kicked backward, which she easily parried with her blade, but the ice made her slide back a couple of feet.

She did a quick handspring backward, before digging deep and planting firmly on the ground, a spinning white glyph forming at her feet, which could spring her extremely high into the air thanks to it betraying the laws of inertia. "Drei!" She shouted, spinning her blade and falling down to try and thrust it against his chest. He gasped, rolling to his side and Weiss' blade was stuck in the wooden stage. Dove realized this was his opportunity to strike, so he got back onto his feet. Which thankfully was just wet with the ice melting from the heat of the spotlights. It was his time to strike at the helpless girl, rushing at her and slashing at her with his sword, she squeaked, letting go of her blade and leaping onto her back foot to dodge the hit. He leapt forward, swinging a quick kick to her midsection while her aura blocked it, it had enough force to knock her onto her side.

"Let's give you some of your own medicine!" He shouted, doing a much lower leap into the air, which she countered by doing a handspring and launching an upward dropkick against his chest. The kick managed to push Dove back, but he was able to keep standing. Weiss brought herself back up to her feet and began kicking at his chest, slowly making him fall to his knees. Dove readied to catch her leg after the fifth kick to the chest, so she dipped back and leapt up to instead kick him in the jaw, planting her designer platform boot into his face and knocking him onto his back with a slide. Taking the opportunity to look around to find her sword. She made a break for it, leaping over and gripping the blade's handle on one swift flipping motion. She lifted up her sword, spinning the chamber again, stopping on the light purple crystal. "Blitz!" She shouted as she hit the trigger, the sound of sparks filling the arena as lighting wrapped around the blade. Weiss pointed the blade at Dove, firing a bolt of lightning at him.

By the time Weiss fired the bolt, Dove was back on his feet and running straight at her, sliding onto his knees into a punch straight to her stomach, knocking her off balance long enough to wrap both of his arms around her narrow waist, standing up and slinging her over his head and making her land flat on her back hard enough to knock the wind out of her lungs. He then leapt back, smashing his elbow straight to her rib cage, it felt like something cracked though it might have just been her imagination in a brief moment of panic. The referee started to count as Weiss took a moment to breathe in and check the status of her ribs. She winced, feeling a slight sharpness hit her. The elbow had cracked one of her ribs, but she heard the seven and quickly sat up, letting out a seethe of pain as she brought herself to her feet at nine

As Dove pandered to the crowd over his assumed victory; she gripped her sword, stabbing it into the ground to support herself, taking in slow breaths before spinning the chamber of her sword once more. The chamber stopped at the gray crystal. She let out a cry of "Luft!" which caught Dove's attention. Gusts of wind gathered around the blade, growing rapidly around her. She charged, Dove responding with his own as he prepared for the clash of blades. Though she just lunged and struck a pose nearly feet before they could actually clash, which caught him off guard until he realized what was about to happen. The air around her blade blasted in a concussive blow to his chest, knocking him back with such force to send his body flying dozens of feet backward, until he was sent careening through the curtains and landing somewhere backstage.

"Und... Vier." She said, not curtsying to the crowd, but bowing, blade against her stomach like she was the lead actor in the show. The referee began his count, Weiss wondering why he would bother with formalities when there was little chance of Dove making it back to the arena in time. "Five…. Six…" he counted, making it to eight when his count was interrupted by a loud roaring sound and screams of panic. Weiss looked up, seeing the crowd depart as the announcer made a declaration. "Ladies and gentleman, an explosive has gone off at the front entrance. Please remain calm and depart in an orderly fashion to the back." The message repeated as people filed out, Glynda making a beeline towards the attacker, guards surrounding Erich Schnee and heading for the arena floor to guide Weiss out when the two guards fell to the floor, the sound of a bullet ringing in Weiss' ears a second later.

She turned to the source of the bullets, seeing a man in a white mask and light body armor, wielding a pistol and firing further into the crowd. The masked was modeled after the avian Grimm, the Nevermore. "Die! You are a plague on Remnant itself!" he shouted, stopping to reload only to be tackled to the ground by Weiss. Weiss had forgone her sword and reared back her fist as far as she could to try and punch the masked assailant. However, the shooter grabbed her hand, struggling against Weiss a bit before tossing her aside. Weiss hit the floor hard, landing on her cracked rib, letting out a cry of anguish from the sharp pain taking away her breath.

She heard the sound of a blade scraping against the wood of the floor, slowing getting to her knees to see the masked man standing with her sword. "Heh… our leader will reward me greatly if I bring him the head of Weiss Schnee…" he said, looming over her, the beak of his mask creating a small shadow as he lifted the sword, about to bring it down when Weiss felt an arm wrap around her. "Weiss, look out!" Dove shouted as he had come to and quickly grabbed Weiss, pulling her away from the sword. However, the blade caught Weiss' forehead above her left eye, lightly cutting it and her cheek just underneath. Had Dove been a second late, Weiss would have lost her eye, or worse.

Dove grabbed his sword, blocking an oncoming attack from the Nevermore-masked man, stadium security charging in to take Weiss away. "Go on ahead, Weiss! I'll hold him off!" Dove shouted, digging his heel into the floor.

"Dove, wait!" Weiss shouted as the guard turned her away from the gunman and his allies that were now flooding into the theater, taking her down the stairs and quickly leading her to the emergency exit. While her eye was safe, the blood spilling from the lid and brow poured into her eye, rendering her half blind.

"Pressure, pressure! Stop the bleeding!" The guard shouted, one pushing some fabric against her eye, working to keep the blood out as they walked out. The first thing Weiss saw upon departing from the stadium was a red flag, flowing in the wind. On the flag was a symbol that turned Weiss pale. A dull, but familiar pain shot up Weiss' back as she stared at the flag, marked with the emblem of the group that had been terrorizing her family for years.

The Black Fang were here...


	3. In the Shadows

A young woman sat at a table in a barren, dark room illuminated by a single lightbulb. A spinning ceiling fan cutting shadows into the lights. Her black hair and clothes made her sink mostly into the darkness leaving only her face and arms exposed to the light, her hazel eyes looking to the door in front of her. She had been waiting for an hour for him to finally arrive, ears perking up when she heard distant footsteps. The door opened to a man clad in dark green and a black jacket, carrying a tray of cookies and two cups. One was a glass of milk while the other was black coffee.

"I apologize for the delay, I was going to get here sooner but my students and peers distract me constantly." He said, picking up the coffee. "One doesn't become the Headmaster of a combat academy without losing a bit of free time."

The woman studied the man in front of her. He had what at first glance looked to be jet black hair until she saw tips of silver, betraying the Headmaster's efforts at dying it. "Speaking of free time, that seems to be all I have" She replied, grabbing the other glass and glancing down to realize it was full of milk; typical.

"Hrm, yes. Now, Ms. Belladonna. When you had turned yourself in, you had some… conditions…. one was that you wanted to speak with me. To be honest, I'm surprised you wished to speak with me of all people. I was expecting some form of plea bargain. So, why me?" he asked.

"Well, Professor… I wanted to talk you about the terms of my sentence, I wish to serve the government by joining Beacon Academy." she answered, the Professor gently pushing up his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Hrm… I can understand the desire to hunt the Grimm that threatens both kinds, but I'm not entirely sure the police would be okay with handing you a weapon and sending you out amidst other humans since you're still known as a member of an anti-human terrorist group." Ozpin said.

"Well, you don't have to worry about giving me a weapon. I already own a blade," she said, reaching over for one of the cookies, and hearing the chains binding her arms to the chair clinking as she moved.

"Which is currently in police possession. But perhaps you can answer a question that has been lingering in my mind since I heard of your request: Why would you leave the Black Fang? That usually ends in being hunted down and killed." he asked, the woman sighing a bit.

"Well, It started when Adam and I boarded the train. It was carrying Schnee Dust products and we were given orders to derail it and take everything we could."

 _It was supposed to be a stealth mission, little casualties, derailing parts of the train while the driver didn't notice._

"Blake, it's time." A voice from behind said, the woman turning to see an older man dressed in a black leather coat, adorned with black moleskin gloves and matching black boots. He was a tall, muscular man with bright red hair and brown eyes, white bone stumps protruding from his head. Blake stood up, sheathing her blade and following him as he handed her a small white mask, putting on his own and going over the plan. "We begin by boarding the train as it passes, which we only get once chance. That's why I brought you, your accuracy is paramount to this operation." He explained, handing his subordinate a small bronze gauntlet, fingers tipped with sharp claws. Blake nodded, sliding on the glove as her ears twitched, hearing the oncoming train. "We've got five minutes. Better get into position now," the redheaded man said, running ahead with Blake following after.

The two came to a stop at a hill close to the tracks, it was just out of the forest clearing and just before the mountains surrounding Vale. But before it could get to Vale, it needed to go through a tunnel, so they stationed just at the top of it, hiding behind a large tree.

"Adam, what's the reach on this gauntlet?" Blake asked, turning to her partner.

"15 feet. Should be enough to cross the gap if you don't choke," he answered as Blake put on her mask, shaped after an Androcleo, a Grimm that took the form of a lion. She took a deep breath, trepidation hitting her. She had heard of a group of Black Fang recruits who had attempted to jump onto the train, jumping too early and getting caught in the cowcatcher. The train slowly approached with a loud whistle from its horn, moving underneath the tunnel. She took a deep breath, waiting for a flatbed to come into view and jumping, Adam following after her. As they fell, Blake felt her fear melt away, landing safely in the flatbed. Adam tore open one of the nearby crates, finding canisters of Dust within, glowing faintly. "Hrm… weak stuff. Figured they would leave this out in the open… detach the car, we're going in." Adam ordered, jumping to the next car and kicking open the door.

 _I had been told that Schnee Dust worked out a deal with Atlas Arms. For a generous offering of Dust, Atlas Arms would give them first crack at new models of Atlesian Knight security droids since they need electricity-based Dust to actually function._

Blake grabbed the latch of the back car, lightly kicking it to detach the lock, the train going uphill and leaving that car, and anything behind it to drift away down the tunnel. They entered the next car, which was pitch black until they stepped inside when it began to fill with bright red lights and sirens. "So much for being quiet," Blake complained.

"I can do loud with the best of them, stop complaining about nap time and get moving, kitty cat," Adam replied as the two were soon surrounded by a small circle of dark-gray robots.

"Scanning lifeforms, ID verification not found, securing the area of hostiles." one of the AK-130 droids stated, weapons drawn on the two. "Intruders, surrender at once. Put down your weapons and keep hands visible. You have 10 seconds to comply." The Atlesian Knight ordered, Adam scowling and grabbing the claymore from his back and swinging, sending the droid to the floor.

"Lethal force authorized on all units within operating range." One of the droids stated, its machines whirring to reveal two machine guns on each arm.

"We need to get out of this room, it's a death box!" Blake shouted, drawing her blade from its scabbard and rolling out of the way as it fired a barrage of machine gun fire in her previous location. She dipped between boxes as her burly partner was busy trying to cut his way through the robots, though not actually cutting through them, he was hitting them with such force to send them stumbling back to regain balance.

"Bastards are tough!" He exclaimed, kicking one right before it fired its storm of bullets and forcing it to topple over.

 _It turns out we didn't carry an RFID on us to say we were part of the staff on the train, we didn't know that, so getting caught was an unavoidable affair._

Some of the robots swapped to a blade, quickly folding from a compartment in their arm joints. Blake rolled behind the bots, some of their waists whirring to turn and face her without moving their legs.

"I'll keep them off, Adam! Figure out how to break these." Blake shouted, charging at one of them before stopping slightly, allowing her "shadow" to take over the fight for her.

"Body heat not detected. Scanning area. Body heat found." The droid said, firing through the illusion Blake while the real one rolled away, hiding behind a metal crate.

"Damn it! I can't use my Semblance on these tin cans!" Blake groused, hearing the approaching steps of the Atlesian Knight. She took in a deep breath, turned the corner and swung, managing to catch the Knight on the shoulder, cutting its right arm off.

Blake's eyes widened as it hit her, and she quickly went for the droid's leg, cutting it off. "Adam! The limbs have weak joints! Aim for the limbs!" she called out, Adam scowling a bit. His claymore had great cutting power but lacked the precision to hit the Knights' joints.

"You keep them back then! I'm going ahead!" he called back, charging toward the door. Blake was caught off guard by this as the Knights aimed to her partner, the cat Faunus diving over them, getting into a defensive stance.

 _That should've tipped me off. Adam didn't leave anyone behind. He believed that we either win together or we die together. And yet he left me there to face the Knights alone. I could barely hold them off even after learning their weakness, so I detached the car and let them eat the tracks as they tried to chase me. And that's when I saw it…_

"Where the hell is the Dust?! Tell me!" Adam shouted, slamming a cargo boy against the wall, his eyes staring daggers through his mask, modeled after the King Kuja Grimm.

"I-it's three compartments down! Please let me go!" The staff member cried, trying to squirm away. Adam turned his head upon hearing footsteps from behind.

"Blake… take care of him," he said, striking him in the stomach so hard you could hear bones crack, before throwing his target across the room.

"What? Adam, he's an innocent!" Blake objected. While she had done terrible things in the name of the Black Fang, she had good reason to do so. But this? This was just some kid who worked for the train company.

"Even by working with these slave-drivers, he's just another cog in the big machine that we're trying to rebuild, he isn't worth saving..." Adam said. Blake was taken aback by this but before she could speak again, a metallic clanging could be heard in the distance, Adam turned to the door, readying his claymore for whatever came out of it. But Blake could tell it wasn't coming from within the train… it was coming from atop it.

 _The Atlesian Arachnos was something our intel had told us about. It was based on an extinct species of Grimm, a giant spider mech designed to be piloted remotely. We figured it wouldn't be used for anything outside of hunting Grimm. With the amount of firepower it had, we had hoped it was only for that purpose…_

The car's roof was torn open by one of the AA Mech's arms, the mech crawling down to face the intruding Fauni. Adam charged forward, lifting his claymore up and bringing it down, barely cutting into the Arachnos. Panels opened on its body, revealing small cylinders that charged with red energy. Adam pulled his blade out, slamming it into the floor and hiding behind it as the beams fired, Blake running to grab the staff member and getting him against the wall. The energy burst nearly tore through Adam's blade, coming to a stop within seconds.

"Blake! You go on ahead!" I'll take on this hunk of scrap!" he barked out, a field of red light forming around Adam. Blake nodded, grabbing the cargo boy and running out of the car. The human worker ran to the next car, getting in as the AA Mech made its way through the door, grabbing Blake in one of its arms.

Blake struggled in the grip of the Arachnos as it shook her around, throwing her into the air. Blake went up, turning to her gauntlet and aiming it carefully, waiting for the right moment to release the compressed air and launch the hook. She pressed a button on the gauntlet, releasing the hook, which fired within seconds and latched onto the top of a car. Blake held tightly to the gauntlet it retracted, not wanting to slide off her hand as she descended onto a train going seventy an hour. The force of the gauntlet was threatening to rip her arm off as she got closer and closer to the top of the car.

 _I was really lucky to have made that landing. I should've died well before I even hooked the train._

Blake landed feet first, fighting the wind resistance as she ran along the car, trying to get back to the car where Adam was fighting the Arachnos. She ducked under an incoming sign, using her katana to hold herself to the train. She readied the gauntlet in case she needed it again and continued her stride, jumping from car to car. She soon jumped down in front of Adam as he managed to toss the mech off the train, the red energy fading from his body. As he stepped forward, Blake put a hand on his chest.

"Blake, what are you-" before he could finish, Blake shoved him back into the car opposite hers, cutting the latch and detaching his car.

"I'd rather die following a noble cause than live for yours," she said as the train sped away, her mask hiding the tears welling up in her face.

 _Adam was one of the only friends I had in the Safari Sector. He raised me when my parents were killed, protected me from the humans, taught me how to survive in a world that hated me from birth. I owed him so much, but I couldn't stand beside him anymore._

"How poetic. Admittedly, you didn't need to cut the latch when you could have just pulled it out like you did before," the Headmaster said, biting on a cookie, Blake giving him an annoyed glare. "You understand that admitting you into Beacon shall be difficult. Given your criminal status, you are exempt from honorary citizenship. And without that, you are basically seen as Beacon's property, which is far from an ideal situation for you," he continued. "However, there is an option that would allow you some level of independence, but you may not like it." the Headmaster warned, reaching for the untouched glass of milk. He took a sip, grimacing a bit. "Warm... "

"So, what is this option, Professor Ozpin?" Blake asked, Ozpin setting down.

"You need to act as the thing you hate. You cannot tell anyone that you are a Faunus. If anyone asks, you are a human." he said, setting down a small black beret.

"You act as if it's easy to just be a human. I can't exactly wear a beret in a shower or at any sort of formal arrangement." Blake said, putting the beret on.

"While it is true that you will need to find alternate showering schedules to the rest of the students, formal events will not be much of a problem. You will require an escort in order to leave school grounds. We need to be certain that you won't run off on us after receiving formal training." Ozpin responded, Blake understanding that. "So, with all that said, what made you consider joining us instead of serving your sentence in prison?" he asked, Blake finally getting the beret on her head.

"As the train kept moving, I had a lot of time to think. What do I do after this? I betrayed the Black Fang, so that meant I was just as much an enemy to them. Rejoining the White Claw would only bring fire upon them from both sides, more so than there already is. And chances are security would stop me if I tried departing for Vacuo or Mistral. And as I stayed awake that night, I saw the sun. Excuse me for being "poetic" again, its bright golden ray of sunlight reminded me of hope, that this is the only path I can choose. A beacon, if you will." Blake said, Ozpin chuckling a bit.

"Very well. Let's hope the sun told you that this was the right choice." Ozpin said, getting up and unlocking her chains before heading off with the last cookie on the plate.


	4. Burn It to the Ground

Yang drove up to the club, the Bear's Den, stopping her motorcycle in the parking lot, her sister riding the back end of the bike. "You keep an eye on Hornet, Ruby. I'll only be there for a few minutes," she said, Ruby nodding and reaching her hand out. "Heh, you can't have the keys, Ruby," she answered the silent question, Ruby looking down in disappointment. Yang knocked on the door, a slit opening to a pair of eyes hidden under red sunglasses.

"Password?" a voice behind the door asked.

"Nightingale," she said, the door opening up to a sea of dancers bathed in blindingly flashing lights and ear-grating music. The doorman offered to take her jacket, Yang shaking her head. "We allowed weapons in here?" she asked the doorman, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Just don't pull them on anybody," the guard said, waving Yang off. The blonde nodding and adjusting her gauntlets a bit. She stepped in, covering her ears as the throbbing of the music got louder with each passing step, weaving through the crowd as she ran to the bar, the farthest point away from the speakers. "Alright, who broke the speakers?" Yang asked to no one in particular as she ordered a drink. "Something with a bit of honey to it!" she barked out, her eyes scanning the club. She was looking for someone, she didn't have a lot to go off of. Just a name and nickname; Arthur Julian II aka Junior. As she kept looking, she heard the scraping of glass against the dark oak. Yang turned to see her drink, which was far nicer-looking than anything she'd expect from an establishment like this.

"Something special from Junior," the bartender said. "He's doing business right now, but you caught his eye." Yang got up, taking a sniff of the drink she was handed and lightly tossing the contents of the drink against his nice suit.

"Save it, which one is he?" she asked, checking the bar. She saw four people in a group sitting at a nearby table, ruling out the two women who were standing by one of the men, who was dressed in a white dress suit with a black vest and red tie, jet black hair with matching beard and mustache. The other was a man in a white suit and brown pants, black fingerless gloves holding a cane with a silver wolf's head on the top, setting down a pouch full of coins for the black-haired man.

"Hrmph! He's the one with the twins at his shoulders. Don't know who the guy with the cane is, but I'd say not to underestimate to Malachite twins. They might be lookers, but I wouldn't get anywhere near 'em." The bartender warned, wiping the drink off his apron.

"Funny, that's what they say about me." Yang retorted, heading to their table.

"Always a pleasure working with you, Junior. But I'd best be going." The white-suited man said, passing by Yang with a wink and smile before Yang took her seat.

"Ah, a newcomer to the Bear's Den. What do you think of the accommodations so far?" Julian asked, flashing a smile to Yang, who merely blinked.

"Well, the music's too loud, the drinks taste like piss and the chairs are creaky," Yang replied, keeping a careful eye on the twins. The only feature shared between them was their pale green eyes and their black hair color. The one on the left was dressed in all red, Yang taking careful note of the claws attached to her arms. To the right was a woman with longer hair and dressed all in white with cyan lining who seemed to lack a weapon. "Now, let's get down to business. You're an information broker, right?" Yang asked, Junior nodding.

"Blondie, there's little that goes on in Vale that I don't know," Junior said, taking a sip of his drink. "So what do you want to know?"

Yang reached into her pocket, pulling out a phone and flipping it open to reveal a holographic image of a woman with long black hair. "I'm looking for someone, Raven Branwen. That name ring a bell to you?" Yang asked, Julian scratching his chin in thought.

"Hrm… I don't remember the name, but maybe with a little motivation, I can dig a bit deeper…" he replied, reaching his hand out only to get it slammed into the table under her right hand.

"Spare me the games; I don't need you being coy. You either have what I want or you don't, so spit it out or I'll save you a trip to the dentist." Yang barked out, the leftmost twin pulling up her claws.

"Easy, Millie. I.. anh… I got this," Junior said to calm the red-clad woman, turning his attention to Yang. "Now Blondie, I'm willing to cut you a break here since you're new. But you either take your hand off mine or we'll have you escorted from the Den." Junior said, Yang seething a bit in annoyance.

"Look, dipstick, this isn't tea time with Mama Bear. You either talk to me or you talk to this!" Yang shouted, pounding her fist on the table, going straight through it.

A sea of black suits formed around the group as Yang looked up to see all the attention. Their weapons were brandished and they were pretty much ready to cause trouble. "Well, now you're gonna have to pay for the damages too. That table was pure cherry, cost about 1000 Lien. I can take cash or cre-" Arthur didn't have to finish as he was struck with a hard left hook, sending him out of his chair and to the floor.

"I hope you take checks." She said, grabbing his mug of beer and chugging it down, throwing the glass at a wall and gripping the entire table, slinging it out and throwing it at the angry groups of guards, as it was clear that she wasn't going to get out of here without a fight. She jumped through the hole she made in the guards, the remaining guards charging at her with knives, brass knuckles, baseball bats and even a few empty bottles. She ducked and dodged the knives, stick and moving as many in front of her, keeping her eyes on the guards trying to go around her. A few of the guards got shots in with their brass knuckles, but she knocked them back only to take a hard shot to the back from a baseball bat. The bat-wielding guards proceeded to pummel the downed Yang, taking shots to her back, others kicking at her sides, threatening to shatter her ribs. Yang struggled to stand, only to be forced back down with another volley of baseball bat shots. The guards pulled Yang off the floor, one of them smashing a beer bottle over her head.

Yang panted heavily, blood flowing from her forehead as the guard spit on her face. "Tch, toss her out, boys," he said, turning away only to feel someone tightly grip his arm. He turned around, seeing Yang glowing a bright yellow, growling loudly as she pulled the guard in and punched him in the stomach, sending him flying into the bartender's wine wall.

"Hey! My wine!" the bartender shouted as Yang ripped a bat out of a guard's hands, swinging at them and sending them flying around the room.

"BATTER UP!" she shouted, glowing brighter and brighter as she chucked the bat, grabbing a guard and throwing him into the DJ's booth, cutting the music off. The room was littered with broken, battered bodies as Yang continued to glow, nearly turning white. The silence of the room was cut off by the click of heels on the tile floor.

"Can I gut her, Mel?" The red-clad twin asked with a sick smile on her face, claws at the ready. The white-clad sister sighed.

"Try not to stain my dress, Millie. Blood doesn't come out easy, ya know." She replied, watching her sister rush right at Yang. Yang spun to throw a kick at Millie, which she ducked and rolled underneath, slashing her metallic claw up at the blonde. She rolled away although a couple of locks of her long mane of hair were sliced by the movement, the white-dressed sister leapt up behind her, trying to catch her in the back of her neck with a hidden sword up the sleeve of her dress. Yang by sheer luck ducked her head, so Mel grabbed around her shoulders and tried to hold it to her throat.

"Give up, you id-" she was cut off when Yang leapt backward, smacking her into the ground, then grabbing her arm, rolling back onto her feet and slinging the girl across the room and back first into the bar table. Knocking her out for a brief period, she slowly turned back to Millie, who was admittedly still excited for the whole fight happening… which immediately ended when Yang bashed her two gauntlets together, causing the Dust in them to ignite both her hands into two small infernos.

"Bad move…" Yang muttered, slowly walking toward her. The wooden tables igniting from the embers coming from her hands, as both gauntlets slowly turned white from the sheer amount of heat radiating from them, slowly turning the bar into a firestorm, the fire was spreading even faster from all the spilled alcohol.

"Good, we don't need to cremate you to send your ashes back to your deadbeat mother." Millie joked though she was cut off by Yang leaping into the air with a primal sounding scream, though she dodged at the last second, the fist smashing into the ground and causing a shockwave to send blasts of wood shrapnel to anyone who wasn't yet fleeing from the bar.

"ENOUGH." She shouted, when she was cut off from Mel, now awake from her brief knockout to try and cut at her heels to save her sister, this sliced one of her calves open, but she couldn't get enough of a hit on it to actually do any lasting damage.

"This is going south, let's split!" The more sane twin suggested, the other one just growling and going for the crazy fire maiden one last time.

Yang grabbed Millie's throat, searing it with the flaming gauntlet before launching her out of a window. "Have any more jokes? I'd love to hear 'em." Yang growled, stretching one of her flame gauntlet clad arms, the remaining twin slightly panicking from her sister pretty much being launched out of the building like she was a toy.

"G-going now!" she said, running for the exit as quickly as she could, shoving the terrified Junior aside. Yang slowly advanced on the information broker, turning off her gauntlets, the gloves emitting steam as the heat dissipated thanks to the flameproof leather.

"L-look! We can talk about this, right?! I'll talk to you, I swear!" Junior pleaded, being forced to his feet, hearing the heavy breathing through gritted teeth.

"WE'RE DONE TALKING!" Yang shouted, hitting him with a haymaker and sending him careening through the exit, hearing a cry of "What is tha-" from Mel and thud.

Smoke began to fill the room, until the emergency sprinklers began to spray on the charred ashes of furniture, luckily stopping the fire before any unconscious guard actually got burned. Yang took a few deep breaths, walking out of the bar, the crimson mask being washed away by the sprinklers, leaving only the cut that the beer bottle left. As she stepped out, Ruby immediately rushing her sister. "Yang! What happened in there? Why is everything on fire?! What happened to you?! WHY DID SOMEONE FLY OUT THE WINDOW?!"

Ruby cried in confusion, flailing her arms wildly. Yang chuckled, red blood forming on her forehead once more. "So uhh… things didn't go exactly how I thought, but it was a success." Yang said, ruffling her sister's hair playfully. "Wanna go get milkshakes?"


	5. Road to Beacon

Ruby sat on the bed, reading through a book as the door opened, Yang letting out a sigh and arching her back. "Man, nothing like some last minute school shopping, huh Ruby?" she asked, Ruby nodding and simply replying "uh-huh" never moving her eyes from her book. "Still studying up for the initiation exam? You know they're also gonna be doing a physical exam, right?" the older sister reminded, Ruby shaking her head.

"This is _Kings and Pawns: The Reckoning_ " Ruby replied, still reading.

"Didn't we buy that book this afternoon… you're halfway through it already?" Yang asked, Ruby nodding quickly.

"It's great! It's about a group of teenagers taking down a corrupt government that puts them in life-and-death situations for their amusement! And everyone suddenly backs the teenagers!" Ruby answered with her usual level enthusiasm, Yang rolling her eyes a bit and sitting on the bed.

"That's what they're all about, sis. I know you like your fantasy stories, but you've barely touched your textbooks." she said, Ruby not even looking at her older sister as she replied.

"Well, if they were as exciting as this maybe I'd read them! Besides, what are they gonna tell me that I don't already know?" she asked, Yang firing back.

"A lot of things! How to survive in harsh environments, how to purify water, how not to get eaten by an Ursa! Ruby, you barely know how to use the oven, do you know how to start a campfire?" she asked, Ruby finally looking up.

"Yeah I do! I just pull out some Fire Dust and…" Ruby began, her mouth hanging in the air before she flung the book to the floor. "Oh no! Oh no! I forgot to buy some Dust!" the redheaded sister cried out, jumping off the bed and scrambling to get her shoes on, nearly tying her fingers into the shoelaces. Yang stood up, patting her little sister on the shoulder before pulling her hood over her head.

"Ruby, calm down. You don't even use Dust weaponry, they're not gonna expel you before you even got to the school grounds," Yang said, trying to reassure Ruby, who simply ran to the window, opening it up and leaping out, landing with a quick roll as Yang stopped out the balcony. "You could at least use the door!" she shouted, running off and leaving the room, taking the stairs and getting to the parking lot where Hornet was parked, taking off after her kid sister.

"Ruby! Wait up!" Yang called out as she accelerated after Ruby, who was outpacing her on foot. "Do you know how hard it is to find a Dust shop open at this hour? It's almost 11 pm!" Yang kept shouting.

"That gives me five minutes to buy all the Dust I need to get on the checklist! Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Lightning!" Ruby shouted back, picking up speed as she watched the windows passing by, trying to see if there were any lights on. She skidded to a halt, nearly tearing the soles of her boots as she found the shop. "From Dust 'Till Dawn" read the sign in large bronze lettering. The lights were still on, showing counters filled with crystals, tubes loaded with raw Dust and a bald old man humming as he wiped down the counter for the 27th time. Ruby leaped at the door, slamming into the glass with a hard thud.

This alerted the old man, who got up and pushed the door open from the inside. "Pigeons usually do that sort of thing, sweetie. You trying to be a pigeon?" he asked with a chuckle, helping her to her feet. "What brings you to my little old shop, kid?" he asked as she walked in, pressing her face against the glass in an instant with a gleam in her eyes.

"I'll take this one, this one, and this one! Oooh, and that one too!" Ruby said in a rapid-fire tone, the old man rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, I was fixin' to close… but I guess I can help out a cute little scamp like you," the old man said, ruffling her hair a bit before turning to the counter and unlocking it. He took out the crystals, carefully weighing them in a special energy-reading scale. "Hrm… yes… should be about 80 Lien," the shopkeeper said with a smile, Ruby reaching into her pouch only to find it empty. In her rush to get there, she realized that she had stopped shopping early that day because she had spent her stipend from Signal Academy, meaning she had no money.

"Uh… about that…" Ruby said, backing slowly to the door and hoping Yang would be there with some spare coin.

However, the next person to step through the door was a man with short orange hair and dark green eyes dressed in a white suit and black pants with black finger-less gloves. In his right hand was a black cane with a silver wolf's head. Ruby smiled, thinking he'd have plenty of cash to spare and put on her best "So-adorable-I'm-going-to-puke" face and stood in front of the man. "Excuse me, mister, could I borrow some Lien from-" she began, only for the white-suited man, flanked by four men in black suits with red sunglasses and ties, put a hand to her face and shoved her aside, sending her crashing into a shelf. He took a puff of his cigar, gently tapping the ashes onto the floor the shopkeeper spent twenty minutes sweeping and vacuuming.

"Do you know how hard it is to find a Dust shop open at this hour?" he asked the old man who let out a defeated sigh. You let one person in ten or so minutes before closing and they all start barging in.

"Well, I was about to take that little lady's order, but she seems to have forgotten her pouch. So what can I do for you?" he asked, trying to keep a smile.

"I'll take all of it," the man said with a smirk, the shopkeeper taken aback by such a request.

"We-well, I don't see any coin on you, so will it be credit or checks?" the shopkeeper asked nervously, trying to keep up his smile.

"Oh no, never said I was buying it. Like I said, I'm taking all of it." the white-suited man replied, one of his associates pulling a gun on the old man as the others went to work, pulling out canisters to siphon raw Dust from the tubes. The gunman put down a briefcase, opening it up to show empty slots shaped like crystals.

"We want your best and brightest, hand the Dust over." the gunman threatened, the store owner shakily reaching into the counter, carefully pressing the silent alarm button as he picked up a Fire Crystal. One of the thugs turned to Ruby, pointing a gun to her face. "Alright, kid. Hands behind your back and we'll pretend this little meeting didn't happen," he said, Ruby nodding and kneeling down with her hands behind her back. As the five men were about to leave, Ruby heard the sound of a motorcycle drive up to the store, coming to a stop as Yang ran in.

"Ruby! Don't run off without me like that agai-" Yang began to scold, stopping as she saw the scene going on, the four black suits backing away slightly at the sight of the Yellow Devil that burned down the Bear's Den. The man in white simply looked to his men with a sneer.

"Bunch of cowards, the lot of you. Well, hey Blondie. Nice to see you around here. Look, don't mind this little scene. Just going about our business. We'll let you take what we didn't and you let us go our merry way, we clear?" he asked, Yang's eyes focused on her sister hiding away in the corner. The man in white chuckled a bit, walking over to Ruby. "Oh, you're here to pick up the kid, huh? Oh don't worry, we're taking good care of her," he said, Yang balling her fists tightly.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on her or I swear…" Yang replied through gritted teeth. The man chuckled, slamming the end of his cane into Ruby's stomach, causing her to drop her hands to where she got hit and land in a fetal position on the floor. Yang angrily charged at the man in white, who pulled one of his associates in front of him to take the right cross.

"Feisty, aren't we?" he said as the black-suited man hit the ground unconscious. Yang went for another punch only to be dodged and struck in the back with the body of the cane, Yang grabbing onto to the table to catch herself. "I'd recommend to stay down and not try any funny business. You pull what you did to Junior's and you'll take your little friend out with you," he said, turning to his still conscious men and walking off, giving Yang a hard shot to the side to put her on the floor, Ruby slowly stood to her feet, turning to her sister and running over to leap and plant her feet at one of the henchmen looming over her, sending him stumbling back until he smashed through the window.

"I don't like bullies…" Ruby scowled in the most threatening voice she could do, which wasn't really that threatening. Yang got back onto her feet, dashing past her sister and planting a bunch so hard shots into another henchman's ribs so hard that they cracked, leaving him on the ground.

"I have no time for this joke, we're leaving with what we got, all of you are fired." the man in white said as he grabbed his briefcase, exiting the shop, noticing the sounds of a struggle . His last henchman wasn't following him, so he turned around to see them fly out the other window. Yang jumped out the hole where the window once stood, charging for the boss with her arm reeled back and ready to strike, she had a great punch even without her gauntlets. The man simply opened up his briefcase, pulling out a brightly glowing gray crystal and sliding it into the wolf's mouth, pressing down biting into the crystal. The cane glowed with bright runes as he caught her stomach with the end of his cane. "Big mistake, missy." He said, a sudden shock wave emanating from the tip of his cane. The shock wave blasted her back into the wall with hundreds of pounds of force, smashing her right through the brick wall, leaving her unconscious.

"Y-Yang!" Ruby cried out, checking her sister's pulse and seeing she was still alive. She looked out the window, seeing the man make a call.

"I'm killing the job. The shop's in bad shape. Not a lot stolen, but you'll be able to claim it in this state," he said to the person he was calling. "Send the chopper, I'll be-" he continued, only to get shoved to the ground by Ruby, who had lept out the window at him, landing on top of his back.

"You're staying right here until you apologize to Yang, and go to jail!" Ruby demanded, the man tossing her off of him and standing up, dusting off his coat.

"Get off, squirt! This is none of your business!" he shouted, heading into a nearby building. Once inside, he went straight to the elevator, which had already open for him. Ruby gave chase, only to see the doors close for him.

"Get back here!" she shouted, running over to the elevator and pressing all the buttons to no avail. "...Where are the stairs?" Ruby asked the receptionist, a woman with long black hair with a red streak in a crimson suit dress, filing her nails.

"It's to the right," she said, pointing with the nail file.

"Thank you!" Ruby blurted out as she bolted up the stairs, nearly tripping as the staircase spiraled repeatedly on the way, finally making it up to the roof before the criminal did.

The elevator door soon opened, the man in white still tapping his feet to the cheesy muzak playing as he stepped out, thrown off by seeing Ruby up there. "Damn, you're fast!" he said in shock, shaking it off and smirking. "But, you can't outrun this…" the man in white continued, spreading his arms and stepping back, falling right off the roof.

"Huh?" Ruby said, confused as to how that is supposed to help. She runs forward a bit, being blown back by rotor wash from a lifting helicopter. The man getting off his one knee and finding a seat.

"Get me a drink, I'm parched! Oh, and shoot her," he said to a group of armed thugs inside the chopper, firing at Ruby on his request with machine guns. Ruby let out a squeak, rolling around the hail of gunfire before it tore into her only for the bullets to come to a halt behind a transparent wall of violet.

"Wh-what…" Ruby asked, dumbfounded as a woman with blonde hair in a bun and green eyes stood next to her. She pushed up her glasses with her free hand, the other holding a spruce wand.

"Stay behind me!" she shouted, Ruby nodding and getting behind the Huntress as she took control of the bullets, launching them back at the helicopter. The man in white was about to take a sip of his drink when heard the sound of bullets pelting the helicopter, one hitting the glass in his hand and shattering it, spilling his drink onto his white suit.

"Damn it, my tea! What now?!" he shouted, grabbing the briefcase and seeing Glynda outside. "Huntress…." he said seething, opening the briefcase and pulling out a small set of red glowing crystals. "Try blocking this, huntress!" he shouted, throwing the Fire crystals onto the roof, the crystals shattering and exploding on impact, destroying the roof around them. Ruby covered herself with her hood as the two fell down onto the top floor, a protective barrier placed around them by her magic. The Huntress stood up, looking up to see the helicopter fly away.

"Wow… you're a huntress…" Ruby said, breaking the silence with growing enthusiasm. "Can I have you autograph?!" she asked, her eyes gleaming with excitement. The woman was taken aback by Ruby's shift from hiding behind her for protection and wanting her signature.

"Sure, just hold out your hands," she said, Ruby holding her hands, shaking a bit as she soon felt something wrap around her wrists.

"Huh?" she said, looking down to see a pair of handcuffs on her.

"You're under arrest." the Huntress said, Ruby's jaw dropping a bit.

"But I was helping you fight the bad guy!" Ruby objected.

"Be that as it may, any citizens involved in an incident must be taken in for questioning," she answered bluntly, heading to the elevator with Ruby in tow. After a minute of silence inside the elevator, the muzak came to a stop, the doors opening to an empty room, the receptionist's desk now bereft of anyone sitting behind it.

"Huh? Where did she go?" Ruby asked, the Huntress turning to her.

"Where did who go?" she asked, Ruby explaining that there was a woman behind the desk when she came up.

"There was no one sitting there when I got here, young lady." was all the Huntress said as she leads Ruby to the car, where the unconscious Yang was already seated.

Ruby sat in the car quietly, worriedly looking at the floor. She had several thoughts flooding her mind. She was being arrested for helping people the night before the new school year! She was going to be seen as a criminal by the rest of the students! Was she even going to be admitted to the school with a criminal record?! What were her dad and Uncle Crow going to think? Was she going to be put in jail? Made to do community services and repair the window she smashed? She spent the whole car trip deep in thought before the door swung open. Yang slowly came to, looking around wearily.

"W-what? What's going on?" Yang said as the door was opened, the Huntress helping her out of the car, Ruby getting out of the car.

"Please remain calm, you're being brought into police custody for questioning on the incident." The Huntress explained as they walked into the station, heading for the interrogation room. The Huntress headed in, setting Yang down in a seat as Ruby got into hers, still nervous over the thought of being sent to jail. "Let's start with what happened. What were you two doing out so late?" she asked, Yang unable to answer well as she was trying to come back to full consciousness.

"I was running to get some Dust to finish my school shopping when that guy in white showed up and started threatening the shopkeeper," Ruby began, the woman pushing up her glasses.

"His name is Roman Torchwick," she said. "And you two are very lucky that you made it out of there alive. Now, when he came in, what did you do?" the Huntress asked, Yang blurting out "I love you, giant teddy bear!" while Ruby tried to stifle the urge to laugh.

"Well, his henchman had me put my hands up behind my head and then Yang came in…" Ruby recounted, Yang taking over.

"And then I became a tiger! Literally became a tiger!" she shouted, pushing her sister away. Ruby flailed her arms pathetically to try and swat her sister's hand away before the Huntress waved her wand and separated the two siblings.

"What was I saying? Oh, right! Then Yang started fighting them and knocked one out and then I kicked one through a window! And then I ran to the other side and kicked them through the -OTHER- window, to make the window kicking symmetrical." Ruby said, Yang objecting to this. Not because that version of the story was wrong, but she was offended at Ruby's pride towards defenestration.

"Oh! So it's fine for you to kick someone through a window but when I do, it's all 'Yang! Stop throwing people through windows!' You big little jerk!" Yang shouted while Ruby continued to breathlessly recount the story, losing control of the truth and making stuff up. She soon jumped onto the table.

"And then he had like, twenty guys in a hallway and I fought all of them like Huuuuuwaaaaahhhh! WATTAAAHHHHH! And they were riding bears!" Ruby said excitedly, the Huntress sighing and pushing up her glasses again before using her wand to lift Ruby off the table.

"Okay, let's try this again, without the bears…" she said, setting Ruby back in her chair.

"Okay… well, maybe there weren't bears, but I did have to run up several stairs and then he jumped into a helicopter and then started shooting at me, that's when you came in." Ruby said, finishing her story.

"Young lady, do you know who I am?" the Huntress asked, Ruby blinking and looking up in thought, no idea who he was talking to.

"I am Glynda Goodwitch, Deputy Headmistress of Beacon Academy," she said in an authoritative tone. Whatever color was in Ruby's face had been drained as she just made herself look like a fool in front of a Beacon administrator. "And as much I would like to see you both sent home with a handshake and a slap on the wrist, there is someone else who wants to see you," Glynda said, stepping aside to allow a man in a black jacket and green ensemble to enter.

"Thank you, Glynda. I'll take things from here," the man said, carrying a tray with three mugs and a pile of cookies in one hand and a cane in the other.

"You're welcome, Professor… you missed a few spots in your hair," she commented, Ozpin turning to glare at her. He had dyed his hair black and didn't appreciate her bringing that up in front of people. He set down the tray before taking a seat.

"Go on, Ruby. Have one." Ozpin offered, Ruby shakily taking a cookie and one of the two glasses of milk on the tray. She took a bite, the cookies tasting deliciously familiar.

"Mmmm! They taste just like the ones mom used to make!" she said, the Headmaster chuckling a bit.

"I should hope so, she was the one who gave me the recipe I used. She gave it to me after she graduated from Beacon as a parting gift," he explained,Ruby nearly dropping her cookie in shock.

"Mom was a student at Beacon?" she asked, Ozpin nodding and smiling.

"One of the finest students we had at the time. It's a shame she had to die so young…" he said with a sigh, looking down. Ruby finished her cookie, letting the awkward silence hang in the air before Ozpin turned to look at her. "But I look into your eyes… and while they're your father's eyes, I can see the same energy that she had. The same drive to do great things." Ozpin said, Ruby turning a shade of pink.

"But, there is one question I have? When Professor Port offered Yang an opportunity at Beacon,

you were given an offer as well. Then both of you went to Signal Academy for two years. While I understand that Signal is local to you both, I'm confused as to why you would go there and just straight to Beacon. Can you explain that?" he asked, Ruby nodding.

"Well, Uncle Crow had assessed my skills with a scythe and while I had natural talent, he said my style was unrefined and that I wouldn't pass the entrance exam with sloppy scythe skills. Yang went with me because she didn't want me being there all alone even though I knew half the people at that school!" she shouted, turning angrily to Yang, who had finally reclaimed her senses.

"You would've had no one to talk to if I wasn't there!" Yang shot back, returning the glare to her little sister.

"I had friends there! You just kept scaring them!" Ruby yelled, flailing her arms. The two sisters bickered for a few minutes before Glynda sighed, using her wand to pull them away before they went to blows. Ozpin let out a laugh and stood up.

"Nothing like seeing sisterly bonding, huh Glynda?" Ozpin asked with a smile, Glynda rolling her eyes. "But anyway, thank you for your cooperation. We'll have someone escort you to your hotel room. Best the both of you get plenty of rest. It's almost 2 in the morning and the ship for Beacon leaves at 7:30." Ozpin said, walking off and ducking an oncoming cookie that Glynda telepathically threw at him. Glynda sighed, grumbling a bit.

"Damn it, I'll get him one day…" Glynda said, releasing the two sisters and having a police officer escort the two back to the car, Ruby opening the door to see something that made the whole fiasco worth it. On her seat was a small case with a clear lid, showing six brightly glowing colored crystals.


	6. Road to Beacon, Part 2

"YANG! Yang, wake up! We're gonna be late for the thing!" Ruby shouted, going faster than her brain could process words as Yang groaned, slowly opening her eyes, tasting the foul tang of dry mouth.

"Unh… Ruby, it's 7 in the morning, how are you this excitable?" she mumbled, her vision blurring as she rubbed her eyes.

"A lot of coffee! They have free refills in the lobby! I'm on my fourth cup!" Ruby answered, Yang seeing her sister's eyes wide open, the right eye twitching slightly.

"Come on! We gotta go! We gotta go! We're gonna miss the airship to Beacon!" the over-caffeinated Ruby said, barely able to space her words as she jumped off the bed and went out the window, jumping out once more and rolling upon landing. Yang slowly got up, walking to the open window.

"You're gonna have to use the door eventually!" she shouted, grumbling as she went to take a quick shower. "You'd think getting older would make her -less- hyper… I was wrong." Yang muttered as she poured shampoo directly onto her head, emptying the bottle and tossing it over the door onto a pile of empty shampoo bottles. "Good thing this is complimentary," she said as she worked up a lather, thinking of what she'd need to start her day off; some breakfast, a change of clothes, her bag, Ruby's bag. She rinsed her long blonde locks, wringing them out as she shut off the faucet.

"Maybe a haircut would help." she said as she picked the stray hairs from the drain, seeing a few red hairs in the mix. "Ugh… Damn it, Ruby! How many times do I have to tell you not leave your hairs in the drain?! Nrrrrrrnh!" Yang groused, having to deal with Ruby's unsanitary habits enough at home. She quickly got her hair wrapped up and began setting out her clothes for the day, her cell phone starting to ring.

Yang picked up the phone. "Hey, this is Yang." she said, getting an immediate response.

"Yang! What's taking you so long?! I'm almost at the airport and you're barely within sight!" came the excited voice of her little sister, who seemed to have come off her caffeine rush.

"Don't rush me, sis. I just finished my shower. I still got another 20 minutes, it won't take me that long to get dressed," she said, sitting down on the bed. "Unless you want Big Sis Yang to show up on her first day at Beacon in nothing but a towel." she teased, hearing an incomprehensible cry of embarrassment from the other end of the phone.

"No! No! Get dressed and meet me at the airport! But please be quick!" Ruby said, Yang chuckling at how flustered she was.

"Alright. I'll be there in about 10 minutes." Yang replied, quickly hanging up and throwing her head towel off, taking about five minutes to get dressed. She grabbed her and her sister's backpacks before heading out of the hotel for the parking lot.

Yang walked over to Hornet, getting it started and driving off, mindful of oncoming cars and pedestrians as she checked her watch. 7:20. She was making good time until she came to a screeching halt stopping before she became plastered onto the back of a truck in front of her. "Oh don't tell me…" she said, tilting her head to the left to look to the traffic in front of her. There was some clean up going on at the street where From Dust 'Till Dawn stood and traffic guards were letting people pass at a car per minute. "Oh come on!" Yang shouted, stopping her motorcycle and picking it up, carrying it over to the sidewalk to set it down before breaking out into a run. Her running speed was decent in comparison to Ruby's own breakneck pace, but she was weighed down by having to carry two full backpacks. Not helped by Ruby's being loaded with all the books she bought yesterday. "Did you buy the whole bookstore, Ruby?" Yang thought aloud as she saw the airport in sight, a massive air carrier sitting in wait.

Yang pressed on, having only 5 minutes to get on that airship or she was gonna have to find another way to Beacon and there was no way she was taking the bus. "Running, running, running!" Yang shouted as she got closer and closer, Ruby waving her on. Yang started shoulder-tackling poor civilians to the side, leaping over an old lady's pair of dogs on a leash, before barreling down the street and smacking chest first into a old man holding a watermelon as he tried to sell it from his fruit stand.

"Damn it, my melon!" He shouted in disdain as Yang passed by, making it past the line and onto the landing strip, Ruby hanging off the rail of the hanging door and calling her name as the plane slowly headed down the runway and preparing to take off. "Yang!"

"Ruby!"

"YANG!"

"RUBY!"

"YOU GOTTA PAY FOR MY MELON!" The melon vendor shouted as he chased after Yang.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!"

The plane began to take off, Yang coming to a crouch and leaping into the air, grabbing Ruby's hand. Thus leaving the fruit vendor and his quest for melon-based retribution sullied. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he shouted, shaking his fist and cursing the heavens as the hanging door began to close, the two sisters cheering and embracing.

A young man with oddly gray hair cleared his throat. He was dressed in a standard flight attendant's uniform. "I assume you two have your tickets," he said, holding out his hand, Yang reaching into her backpack and handing him the tickets. The man punched the tickets, nodding and heading off.

"Never a boring day with you, Yang." Ruby said with a big smile, her big sister pulling her hood over her head.

"You're no walk in the park either, sis. Come on, let's get some breakfast. I'm starving." Yang replied as the two headed off to find their seats.

As they walked around to find their seats in the airship, and wherever flight service was to get food and a drink, they saw a young man with messy blonde hair groaning as he held the rail that protected him from crashing into the viewing bay window. "Unh... oh man…" he mumbled, Ruby stopping and giving him a gentle poke on the back while Yang went on ahead.

"Hey, are you sick?" she asked, the blonde boy rushing to a nearby trashcan to vomit.

"Yep, sick." he grunted in response, spitting out the remnants of his breakfast into the can.

"You… uh… you gonna be alright?" Ruby asked, rubbing his back with her right hand.

"I… I think so… I haven't gotten my air legs yet, I should be adjusted to being in the air now." he answered

"...Air Legs?" she asked, thinking they were some sort of fancy new sneaker.

"Yeah, it's a metaphor for the… uhh…" he began, stalling when he saw that Ruby had turned her attention to the window. "Whoa…" was all she could muster as she looked to see Vale from this height. It was amazing how the classically-built stores and buildings of the Commercial District looked from up there, the young man slowly coming up to his feet. "You know, it really is nice… when you're not having to fight with your stomach to look at it," he said, eliciting a giggle from Ruby.

"Yeah, and I thought I was stunned when I came here from Patch." she replied, the vomiting boy's eyebrow raising slightly.

"You're from Patch too?"" he asked, Ruby turning to see that he had blue eyes and looked to be wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans with a bare amount of plates covering his chest.

"Yeah, we lived with Uncle Crow in the southern region. You must've lived up north," she said, offering him a hand. "I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose." the young man taking her hand and shaking it.

"Jaune Arc, it's nice to meet you, Ruby. So, you have any-" he began, only to be cut off by Yang's shouting.

"Ruby! Get a move on! We're not gonna get anything if you keep chatting with Vomit Boy!" the older sister yelled, Ruby groaning.

"Yang! I will shave your head while you sleep!" Ruby called, back turning to Jaune. "Sorry, Jaune. I better get going. Yang gets punchy when she's hungry!" she said, running off to join her sister, leaving Jaune behind.

"Uh... okay…" Jaune said, walking off to find his own seat. As he walked to his seat, wondering what to eat, he bumped into another patron on the ship. "Ah! I'm sorry, I was just trying to get to my seeeeaaahhh!" Jaune said as the young orange-haired woman grabbed his head, tucking it under her shoulder and giving him a noogie.

"Ahhh! Think nothing of it, new friend! What's your name, bud? I'm Nora! Nora Valkyrie!" she said with a wide grin, looking to Jaune with light blue eyes.

"J-Jaune Arc. Could you, ow! Could you please let go of my head?" he asked, Nora releasing his head and dropping him. Jaune looked up, seeing that Nora looked to be about Ruby's height and not much more defined than Ruby. She then grabbed Jaune's collar and lifted him to his feet with one hand. How did someone so petite carry that much strength? Or was he just really frail and easy to throw around?

"Now then! Where are you heading off to?" Nora asked as she gently set Jaune down.

"Well, I was hoping to find my seat and maybe get a bite. And you?" he asked back.

"Well, Ren wanted some time to meditate, so I'm just admiring the view." she explained, Jaune starting to walk with Nora keeping pace beside him.

"Ren? Is he a friend of yours?" Jaune asked, Nora nodding rapidly, her face becoming a bit of blur.

"He's my best friend in all of Remnant! We've been inseparable for years!" she exclaimed, her lack of volume control hitting Jaune's ears harshly.

"...Except for when he has to meditate." Jaune said matter-of-factly, his new friend nodding again and flashing a huge grin.

"Yep! But when he's found his center, he comes back and we're thick as thieves again!" she said, pounding her fist into her palm for emphasis. "Now! You said you wanted a meal, right?" she asked, barely waiting for Jaune to nod in reply.

"Then I say we go to my seat and order ourselves the heartiest meal this airship has to offer!" she said, her excitement starting to get to Jaune a bit as he slowly formed a smile on his face.

"But wait, won't Ren be angry if he's meditating and we're eating next to him?" the young man raised a concern, Nora letting out a massive laugh.

"Hahahahaha! Don't worry, I'll be as quiet as a church mouse or a sloth or a weird hornet that doesn't make noise!" she said, nearly poking Jaune's eye out jabbing a finger in his face.

"Well, if you say so…" Jaune said, following her back to her seat as she charged into the room, running down the aisle.

She sat down next to a young, somewhat feminine man in a dark green tailcoat sitting cross-legged on the wall seat, eyes shut and black hair tied into a ponytail. As Nora repeatedly pressed the call button, Jaune stopped at the seat behind Nora, turning to the woman with long red hair wearing a white shirt, black dress pants and sandals, reading a book as she sat on the wall seat. Her hands were wrapped in tight bandages, making Jaune a bit nervous about asking for the empty seat, but he swallowed down his fear.

"Is… uh… is this seat taken?" he asked, the woman turning her head and looking at Jaune with bright green eyes, opening her mouth to speak when another voice came up.

"How dare you?" the voice called out, Jaune, Nora and the redheaded woman turning to see a young girl with light blonde hair and ice blue eyes in a light blue bolero jacket, matching dress and heeled wedge boots. She walked over to Jaune, daggers of ice in her eyes. "How dare you just walk up to her and talk to her like she's some common peasant! Do you not know who she is?!" the girl shouted, having to look up at Jaune, her boots not giving her enough lift to look him straight in the eyes.

"Uh… n-no, I just met her and-" Jaune stumbled, feeling the dizziness from earlier rushing back to his legs.

"That is Pyrrha Nikos! Top graduate of Sanctum Academy! Record-setting four time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament! And the cover star of Frosted Justice Waffle Crunch for an unprecedented five years!" she shouted, emphasizing each accomplishment with a sharp poke to Jaune's chest. While the finger couldn't pierce his armor, he could feel himself being forced back, Pyrrha barely moving as her personal space bubble was being invaded by Battleship Awkward. "So if you think that some farmboy like you is in a position to so much as -think- of sitting next to her, you are sadly mistaken!" the woman in blue exclaimed, Jaune nodding and looking down.

"Well, I guess you're right…" he admitted sadly, trying to move by her as Pyrrha cleared her throat.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind sitting with you, sir." she said, Jaune's ears perking up, the young girl's jaw dropping.

"What?! Pyrrha, why would you sit next to him?" she asked, Pyrrha shrugging her shoulders.

"He seems friendly. And quiet." she said with a smile, the young girl sputtering in anger before growling and storming off.

"Au revoir!" Jaune said with undeserved confidence before sitting down.

"So, I guess you already know my name, but what about you?" Pyrrha asked, placing a bookmark in her book.

"Huh? Oh! I-I'm Jaune Arc and the one pressing the call button is-" Jaune began, being caught of guard by Nora grabbing his head in the hook of her arm.

"Hey, Pyrrha! I see you met Jaune!" Nora said with a huge grin, finally ending her button-mashing, Pyrrha chuckled a bit as Jaune tried to escape Nora's deathgrip.

"Ah, Nora. It's nice to see you again. How have you and Ren been? It's been awhile since Mistral." Pyrrha replied, setting down her book.

"Oh, same as we've always been! He's the perfect student and I'm, well, me!" she said with a hearty guffaw as the stewardess soon arrived, a woman with medium-brown skin and blonde hair with a green stripe carrying a cart full of boxes of prepared meals.

"Excuse me, we had 118 calls from this row for food. Which one of you was it?" the woman asked, barely holding back the venom in her voice at having to hear that damned beeping.

"Ooh! I'll take half of them!" she shouted, finally releasing Jaune's head. Pyrrha ordered a soup while Jaune gasped out an order for a chicken dish, Pyrrha propping a hand on his shoulder.

"I'd advise against that. The last time someone got between Nora and meat, someone was placed in a coma." she warned, Jaune shuddering a bit before switching to soup. As they ate, Ren remained still in meditation in spite of Nora devouring food loudly nearby him.

"Does he even hear anything?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha shrugging her shoulders.

"I don't think he even feels anything in that state. I've seen him sit like that for hours on end." she said, Jaune reaching over to poke him with his finger. Within seconds, his finger was caught between Ren's index and middle finger without warning.

"Ah! How did… Anh!" he cried as Ren gently twisted Jaune's finger before letting it go, returning to his position. "Whoa… that's freaky," Jaune said as he rubbed his finger, hearing a cry of "Jaune!" from up the aisle, Ruby running down and waving. "Oh, hey Ruby. How have you been?" Jaune asked, glad to see a somewhat familiar face.

"Well, it's been alright. Yang fell asleep, so I decided to come see how you were doing. Looks like you've made some friends." she said in a chipper tone.

"Oh, yeah. This is is Py-" he began, Ruby letting out a sharp gasp and taking a step back.

"Pyrrha Nikos! Oh gosh! Oh gosh! I am huge fan of yours! I've seen all of your tournaments! I own a pair of Air Nikos! I EAT YOUR CEREAL EVERY DAY!" Ruby shouted in excitement, stepping over Jaune and getting face-to-face with her idol, who gently put her hand on Ruby, carefully moving her back a bit.

"Why… thank you, but it isn't my cereal. I just posed for the cover." she said, feeling Ruby's face heat up from Pyrrha touching her.

"Ooh! Hold on! I have something in my bag!" she said as she jumped off of Jaune's lap, running back to her seat and returning within seconds with a small plush version of Pyrrha in perfect condition. "C-could you sign this?" Ruby asked, her whole body shaking with joy. Pyrrha sighed but smiled, not wanting to upset someone so young.

"Sure, I'll sign it. Any dedications, Ruby?" Pyrrha asked, Ruby standing there and thinking a bit before her eyes lit up.

"Fight for breakfast! Go for the eyes!" she said, Pyrrha blinking a bit.

"...I've never said that. I don't ever go for the eyes." the flustered idol said, Ruby letting out a slow "ohhhhhhhh" before switching gears. "Sign it on her face!" she demanded, Pyrrha finally having enough.

"I'm not signing on my face... how about the back? It has more space." she offered, Ruby rapidly nodding as Pyrrha scribbled out "To Ruby, Strive to Excel -Pyrrha." on the plush replica's back, handing it to Ruby, who simply responded with a cry of "EEEEEEEEEEE!" her hands squishing against her cheeks, dropping the plushie. The plush Pyrrha hit the ground with a slight squeak.

"You… uh… you dropped it." Jaune said, Ruby quickly picking up the plush, hugging it tightly.

"Oh! I almost forgot about your other frieeeeagh!" Ruby started before she was caught in a bearhug by Nora.

"Nice to meet you Ruby! I'm Nora Valkyrie and this is Lie Ren!" she said, Ruby making a death wretch and weakly flailing her arms.

"Wait, Lie? I thought his name was Ren." Jaune said, somewhat confused as Nora continued to crush Ruby's lungs.

"Oh! I forgot to mention, in Ren's homeland they introduce themselves by their family name rather than their given name. Of course, the school probably has him listed as 'Ren Lie' instead, so a lot of people are gonna be confused!" Nora said, tightening her hug on Ruby.

"So… what was with that one… agh… pain… girl who was yelling at you, Jaune?" Ruby gasped out, trying to break free from the most painful hug in the universe.

"I don't know. She seemed to not think highly of me even though I come from a famous family of Hunters," Jaune said, about to tell them about the Arc family when they heard a cry from up at the front of the walkway.

"What do you mean there's no First Class seats? I have to sit next to commoners?! " the young girl shouted up at the front, drawing everyone's attention.

"Sorry, sweetheart," the gray-haired steward said. "This is First Class, Executive, Coach, Second Class and the Cargo Bay. So sit your ass somewhere and quit complaining." The young girl growled in frustration, heading for the back where a woman with long black hair, matching beret and white shirt was reading a book in the wall seat. She passed by the assembled crowd, where Yang was trying to rescue her sister from Nora's crippling affection and made her way to the back.

"This seat taken?" she asked bluntly. The woman shook her head, her hazel eyes barely leaving the book. "Thank you. Finally someone who appreciates a bit of quiet around here," she said, taking a seat. "I'm Weiss. Weiss Schnee, and you are?" Weiss asked, attempting to start a conversation.

"I'm reading." was the only reply Weiss got in return from the woman in the white shirt.

"I can see that, but what is your name?" Weiss asked, growing irritated.

"...I'm reading a book, could you please be quiet? You're being a pest." she said bluntly, Weiss gritted her teeth before turning her head, hair nearly whipping her seatmate.

"Fine! But don't come crying to me when your book starts getting boring!" she replied, trying to claim the upper hand.

"If I ever get bored enough to talk to you, I'll let you know."


	7. The First Step

Ren slowly opened his eyes, trying to adjust them to the light only to see Nora staring straight at him with her trademark full-mouth grin. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Ren!" she said as grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his seat, Ren's face barely changing as his friend dragged him down the aisle. "Boy, you missed quite the ride! I made at least three new friends during that trip!" she said, the black-haired boy slowly coming to full consciousness.

"Three new friends, huh?" Ren asked, Nora nodding rapidly as they stepped down.

"Uh-huh! Also ran into Pyrrha, she was seated right behind us!" Nora exclaimed as they walked down the hangar door where everyone's luggage was being handed out, a pamphlet of Beacon's layout taped onto or placed into pockets of cases. Nora put a hand above her eyebrows, looking around for any sign of her new friends. "Let's see… hrm… ah! there's Jaune right there! JAUNE!" she shouted, excitedly waving to Jaune who was trying to find his luggage. She charged right at him, letting go of Ren and giving her new friend a -big- hug, nearly snapping his spine.

"Jaune! How are ya, flying buddy?" she asked, Jaune gasping and flailing like a fish. Ren slowly walked up the two, trying to hide the smile he had as Jaune was suffering a pain all too familiar to him.

"So, this is one of your friends?" Ren asked, Nora gently dropping Jaune, who let out cough as air returned to his lungs, vomiting his airship lunch into an airsick bag. Jaune got up as Nora nodded and spoke again.

"Uh-huh! This is Jaune Arc! He's a member of the Arc family, a family of Hunters dating back three generations, going on four with Jaune!" she said, giving Jaune a friendly slap on the back that nearly sent Jaune back to the floor and caused him to throw up again. "And over there!"" she said, pointing behind Ren to Ruby and Yang, who had finally gotten their luggage and were looking over the pamphlet. "Are Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao-Long! They're sisters, different moms, who are from Patch! Same as Jaune! And Ruby is a -huge- Pyrrha fangirl! It's adorable!" the ever-excited Nora exclaimed, Ren nodding as he looked to Ruby and Yang, Nora giving a wave which Ruby responded to in kind.

"I see… and anyone else you met on the plane?" he asked, Nora rubbing her chin in thought.

"Well, there was that one mean girl who yelled at Jaune and there was a girl in beret who spent the whole trip reading. I think you'd like her, Ren!" she said, attempting to pull Ren in for a noogie, only for Ren to duck under her arm and loop around her. "Heh! You're a slippery snake, Ren! Hahaahahaha!" she said with a hearty laugh. Jaune groaned as he went to wipe the leftover puke on his sleeve, only to see a tissue in front of him.

"You'll get used to Nora's hugs eventually," Pyrrha said, Jaune taking the tissue from her hand. "She's used it as an offensive move in fights before, it's oddly effective." Jaune wiped the puke from his mouth, heading for a trashbin to throw out his bag of sick. An announcement soon rang out

"All initiates please head to the Dining Hall." the speakers blared, Ruby grabbing her bags and running for the avenue leading to Beacon Tower.

Her run was cut short when a trolley car of suitcases came into view during her mad dash, Ruby crashing into the luggage. "Ack! Who has a trolley car?!" Ruby asked as she tried to dig herself out of the pile of luggage. Ruby's answered was soon asked as the girl who she saw yelling at Jaune walked over to her.

"What are you doing?! You klutz!" Weiss shouted as her servants began loading the luggage back onto the trolley car.

"I'm sorry! I was trying to get to the entrance and it just-" Ruby began to apologize until Weiss groaned, checking the contents of one of the briefcase.

"Sorry? Do you realize the damage you could have caused?" she asked incredulously as she looked to see that none of the Dust crystals or vials had been damaged. "The Dust in this case alone is worth more than how much you spent on your weapon!"

Ruby stood up angrily, glaring at Weiss. "How dare you insult my mother's scythe?" she cried, getting closer to Weiss, who pushed her away.

"A scythe? You use a common gardening tool for a weapon? You shouldn't be at Beacon, you should be trimming my family's garden, farmgirl! You'd probably get paid better doing something you're good at!" Weiss said, turning her nose up at Ruby when a voice came up from behind her.

"If you could make more money tending the garden, then why did you come here?" the voice asked, Weiss turning to see a woman in a black beret and white shirt, long black hair flowing out from behind the shirt and reaching her mid back.

"I don't need any lip from you, bookworm! And I don't need money either. I am Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Family!" she declared boisterously, the woman in the white shirt rolling her eyes.

"Yes, I'm quite aware of who you are. You were all too willing to tell me while you sat next to me on the plane. About how your father owns Schnee Dust, one of the largest companies in mining and producing Dust." she said, Weiss beaming with pride as she turned to face Ruby.

"See, farmgirl? You're out of your league here and if you ever talk like that to me again I-" Weiss ranted until she was cut off by Blake.

"The same company infamous for its use of Faunus slave labor, and refusal to insure and give its human workers proper wages, oh, and it's strip mining of sacred burial grounds and monuments for quick profit." she said bluntly, Weiss standing silent before turning to her former seatmate.

"Look! Those are unfounded rumors and I-" she began, stopping as she winced a bit, walking off in a huff, moving gently while a servant pulled out a small, faintly glowing crystal of ice Dust. The woman soon headed off, pulling out her book to read as she walked. Ruby followed after her.

"Wow! That was so cool! But wha… oh! Is that _Kings and Pawns: The Reckoning_?" she asked, overjoyed at someone else having the same book as her.

"It's pretty cheesy, but I like the part where they're overthrowing a corrupt government." the woman said without moving eyes from the book to talk to Ruby.

"Ah! Don't spoil it! I wanna read the end myself!" Ruby cried out, ready to cover her ears if Blake spoiled the book like Yang used to, the bookworm smiling a bit. "So, what's your name? I'm Ruby." she said, offering a hand.

"Blake." she answered bluntly, not even acknowledging Ruby's hand. Ruby held it out awkwardly before putting it down, Blake walking ahead of her for a bit. Ruby let out a small chuckle before sinking her head down to look at the floor as other students passed her by, Jaune running up to her. He put an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, Ruby!" he said, only to feel her sink out from under his arm. "Oh… nevermind. How's it going?" he asked.

"Well… it's certainly different from the airship ride… I'm not sure I like Beacon Academy yet." she admitted.

"Yeah? I dunno, it seems like you're doing well. I mean, you got your sister with you, you got me, you got… me…." he said, losing his argument. "...So, what weapon did you bring?" he asked, Ruby's eyes lighting up.

"Oh! You wanna hear about Crescent Rose?" she said excitedly as she pulled out and unfolded her scythe.

"A scythe?" he asked, a bit confused as to why someone would use a gardening tool. "You use a scythe?"

"Well the blade is grooved to contain a hidden blade to extend the length of the scythe's blade and allow me to charge Dust into Crescent Rose to do special attacks, but I'm not 100 percent sure which one to use. Also, it's made of a light yet durable alloy of steel, iron, Dust, and titanium for maximum lightness and strength, meaning I can spin it around like this!" Ruby explained, twirling the scythe a bit and accidentally slicing into her own bag, the contents spilling out.

"...I got a sword." Jaune said carefully, pulling a straight sword from his scabbard.

"Ooh, does it do anything?" she asked, looking over the blade. "Well… it stabs people… the scabbard unfolds into a shield…" he said, sliding the scabbard onto his arm and pressing a button to unfold the shield.

"Ooh! That's actually really practical! You can carry your sword and shield on your belt in one spot!" Ruby said in excitement. She had read a lot about weapons and was always fascinated at how many ways one could make a blade. However, Yang walked over and grabbed her by the collar of her hood, pulling her along.

"Come on, sis! We gotta get to the Dining Hall! I'm getting hungry from being up in the air for so long!" Yang said, her stomach growling a bit as Ruby was dragged away, Jaune meekly waving to her. The two sisters soon made it to the dining hall, Ruby seeing Pyrrha sitting down and trying to break free of her sister's grasp to sit next to her idol.

"Yang! Let me go! She's right there! I need to eat with Pyrrha! Yaaaang~" Ruby cried, Yang remaining steadfast to find two empty seats and seating her sister down next to her. As the students assembled, they heard the feedback of a microphone, turning to see Professor Ozpin standing in front of them on a podium.

"I'll make this brief so as not to be drowned out by rumbling bellies," Ozpin began, pushing up his glasses. "You have all traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your skills and acquire new ones. And as you journey through these halls, you will meet teachers and students with greater experience than any of you. Because as I look among you I see nothing more than clay. You may come in here with titles of honor, tournament championships and family lineages. But as soon as you stepped through that door, you had become nothing more than a slab of clay to be molded and shaped. If you come here to achieve some sort of accomplishment, then understand that is not a game. This academy is not here to make you a star to shine among the heavens. You are soldiers, risking your lives every single day to protect your brethren, and will die a soldier's death. If you are not prepared to face the harsh reality of the situation, then you may get out of your seat and return home." he offered, a small group of initiates standing up and quietly leaving, the ones who remained seated murmuring before Ozpin continued.

"Remember that knowledge is power, but that power cannot carry you forever and that it is up to you take the first step. Your skills and experiences will determine how far you go. You have all been admitted, but your first test shall come soon. The gymnasium and library will be open for you for three days from this point, and the initiation exam will begin. There is a 9 P.M curfew and all students will report to the theater. Sleeping quarters will be arranged until you are given dormitories. Now, I have one question for you all… who's hungry?"

An army of servers wheeled out carts of food to lay out on the table. Second years walked through the aisles. asking the new crop of students how they were enjoying their time at Beacon, how the food was or if they had any questions about the school. Ruby grabbed a strawberry cake off the dessert tray, licking her lips. "Cake. Time. Cake time." she said in a mantra, ready to slice into the cake when Yang pushed it aside.

"Ruby, your entire diet can't be cake, ya goober." she said, Ruby trying to go for the cake only to be held back.

"No! I want my cake! I will not be denied cake!" she shouted, her arms windmilling as Yang held her back with one hand, reaching for a baked potato and shoved it into Ruby's open, complaining mouth.

"You will eat that potato and you will like it! You will have a regulated diet!" Yang shouted, holding the potato to Ruby's mouth while she let out muffled cries of rage and cake-denied anguish.

Everyone watched this display of sisterly bonding, scratching tilted heads in confusion. "What's with them?"

"They're from Patch. Country folk."

"Isn't that Jaune guy from Patch, too?"

"I hope Beacon has restraining orders." The murmurs went on as Yang soon got Ruby to relent to the baked potato, eating out of disappointment. Jaune watched this wide-eyed and confused. "

What… is this place?" he said as the syrup cascaded off his waffles, flowing off the plate and onto Pyrrha's kebabs.

"I'm starting to regret moving to Vale," she said as she took a bite of of syrup-soaked kebabs, grimacing as the syrup did not mix well with the spiced lamb meat.

Those not staring at the sisters and their potato squabble were watching Nora devour a whole pig on her own, tearing into the leg as though she were a vulture on carrion. Nora yanked the apple out of its mouth, tossing it into the air where Ren caught it before it broke a nearby window, taking a bite.

"This is why you got kicked out of Burgershire." Ren said in-between bites of the apple.

"You gonna eat that?" Nora asked, reaching for Ren's small plate of buttered bread and banana, only to have her hand swatted away.

"I need to have my potassium, Nora." he replied while Nora guzzled apple cider from a goblet.

Weiss grimaced at the sight of Nora's table manners. "I didn't know that Beacon admitted savages." she said, giving off a high-pitched, artificial laugh to her own joke as servants carefully cut her steak, pouring a fresh cup of tea. She lifted her fork, taking a bite of meat and letting the flavor linger for a bit. "Hrm… yes, impressive work. Be sure to give my compliments to the chef." Weiss said to the servant on her left with a rare smile.

"Yes, I'm sure they'll enjoy hearing the appraisal of a teenager." Blake said sarcastically at the table behind Weiss, taking small bites of her fish filet in-between reading her book, Weiss turning around and glaring at her.

"Do you have nothing better to do than antagonize me?" the heiress asked.

"Yes. Reading." Blake replied, Weiss taking in a deep breath and turning back to her steak. As she turned, she spotted someone in the corner of her eye walking around and greeting initiates, asking them if they were enjoying their meal.

The woman spoke with a noticeable stutter, her head covered by a hood. "No… it couldn't be…" Weiss muttered, lifting up her hand and snapping twice. The woman soon stood stiff, halting her questioning as she heard the snapping sound. Weiss snapped twice again, the woman quickly running towards her, barely holding onto her hood as she rushed to meet Weiss.

"I-Is there anything I-I can get you, Ms. Schnee?" she asked, having almost memorized that question.

"Velvet, I'm shocked. I haven't seen you since your second year starts and this is how you address me? I am not here as a master anymore and you are not my servant. In fact, you are the master here." Weiss admonished Velvet, who bowed her head in shame.

"Ah…. y-yes. M-my apologies, Ms. Sch… Weiss. My ap-apologies, Weiss." Velvet replied, her hood failing to follow her head and falling to the other side. Two large rabbit ears unraveled from Velvet's brown hair, the surrounding tables going quiet. The silence was soon broken as a carrot flew across the room, striking Velvet in the back of the head. Velvet let out a cry of pain before turning around. "Please, students. Do not throw food in the Dining Ha-Ow!" she yelped as another carrot sailed at her, hitting in the face. The assault of produce continued as a trio of young men threw vegetables at her. "Anh! Please! Stop it!" Velvet shouted to no avail as the crowd slowly started laughing at the sight, Weiss being shielded from the oncoming food by her servants. Blake stood up, holding her beret tightly as she grabbed an oncoming carrot and threw it straight back at the attacker, a young man in a dark green shirt with a buzzcut, before walking off angrily without her book. The assault came to an end, but the laughter seemed to go on as Velvet ran off in tears, covering herself in her hoodie.

The laughter stopped as the crowd stared at the door, wondering if the bunny girl was going to come back. Ruby turned to Yang, prodding her on the shoulder. "Yang… what was with that girl? Why did she have rabbit ears? And why was everyone throwing things at her?" she asked, Yang shrugging her shoulders.

"I don't know, Ruby." Yang said, barely able to touch her plate after seeing such a display.


	8. Hitting the Gym

The remainder of the feast was a quiet affair, punctuated only by the murmur of initiates over the girl in the hood and the one with the beret. As the students departed, Ruby looked over her pamphlet to see if she could find the gymnasium. It had been a while since she had done any real physical training for the initiation exam, though her mind was still on the assault. She had never seen anyone with rabbit ears before and she didn't get why anyone would just attack them. She usually trusted Yang to fill her in on things like this, but even she was baffled. As she went to make a right turn, she saw Jaune heading left for the library. "Hey! Jaune! Over here!" she shouted, Jaune turning to see Ruby.

"Oh, hey Ruby. What's up?" he asked, walking over to her.

"Just heading to the gym. Say, you know anything about the girl with the rabbit ears?" she asked, Jaune nodding a bit.

"Mhm, I've read about people like her. They're called Faunus. They're like humans but with bestial traits like tails or horns… or odd ears. They're not all that common in Patch. My sister Izzy said that she saw a Faunus once when she was young. Of course, she also told me that if bring a cactus into a bank, they'll give me a million Lien," Jaune said, Ruby giggling a bit.

"Ah, older sisters. Always making up silly stories," she said, reminiscing about the time Yang bragged about wrestling a bear, which just turned out to be her one-eyed stuffed bear, Winky. Ruby kept demanding proof and soon Yang had one of her friends dress as a bear and wrestle them to get Ruby off her back.

"She's so convincing! She once had me believe for months that she was the Queen of Pudding and any time we had pudding in the house was because she had called her subjects to the fridge!" Jaune said, exasperated at how gullible he was when he was young. Ruby's smile faded as she remembered the subject at hand; the Faunus girl and why she was attacked.

"So, why were those guys attacking her?" Ruby asked, Jaune sighing as he thought to what he had read.

"Well, 15 years ago a war had broken out called the Human-Faunus War, the Faunus Uprising or the Third Crusade, depending on which book you read. I can't remember most of the details of how it started and why, but I do remember that humanity won out and now the Faunus are… well, treated like savages. The reason there aren't many Faunus around Vale is because they're kept in gated off quarter called the Zoo Quarter. The rare few who have are given status as Honorary Citizens of Vale and aren't treated much better, as you can see." Jaune explained as they kept walking, reaching the gym. "Huh… well, I guess this is your stop." he said, turning to go for the library only for Ruby to stop him, grabbing his arm.

"Don't you wanna get a bit of exercise in?" Ruby asked, tugging his arm a bit.

"I'm actually allergic to working ouuuuuuuuaaaahhh!" Jaune said as Ruby dragged him int the gym, a massive room covered in soft padding and equipment for various types of exercise regiments.

"Jaune! Ruby! Over here!" Nora shouted from across the room, waving to them as she sat cross-legged on Ren's back. Ren was in a green tank top, doing push-ups while Nora sat on his back, keeping count for him. "107! 108! 109!" she shouted, Ren barely breaking stride as Ruby and Jaune walked over, Jaune looking down in awe of Ren's physique.

"He has abs… I wish I had abs…" Jaune said, opening the collar of his hoodie and seeing his own lack of definition.

"Uh… isn't having Nora on your back kind of painful?" Ruby asked, Ren speaking between each push-up.

"The bull may look strong, but the beetle may hold up the world" he said, only confusing Ruby further.

"Uh… what?" she asked, tiling her head.

"Looks can be deceiving!" Nora said, acting as an interpreter. "The most massive person in the room isn't the strongest and Ren's got great lifting power. Of course, he still can't lift Magnhild, the Valkyrie family hammer!" she said with a grin, Ruby nodding and looking around at who else was there, seeing Pyrrha inside a ring in the corner, practicing moves on a stuffed dummy. She had switched to a black tank top and matching athletic shorts, black training wraps on her feet and hands.

"Hrm… this isn't working. A lump of sand shaped like a person has no real resistance to it. It's not even moving… I need a sparring partner." Pyrrha said, Ruby excitedly rushing to the ring.

"Ooh! Me! ME! I'll let you throw me around, Pyrrha!" Ruby said in her fangirlish squeal. Pyrrha chuckled a bit, trying to mask her discomfort with a smile.

"Thank you for the offer, Ruby. It's kind of you, but perhaps I should compete with someone around my height…" she said, ruffling Ruby's hair a bit. Ruby would've objected, but she already thought of a workaround.

"Okay! I'll be the referee, then!" she said, running off to check the back of the gym for a referee's shirt.

"How about you, Jaune? You know a bit of Atlesian wrestling?" she asked, Jaune freezing up a bit.

"Uh… we-well, my sister Valerie would always hide in my room and tackle me to the ground when I was younger and put me in armlocks. Does that count?" he asked, backing away a bit before Nora grabbed him by the hood of his jacket and threw him in, holding the hood so it came off and left him shirtless.

"Hrm… well, since you still have both your arms, I'd say you learned something from it." Pyrrha said with a smirk, Ruby rushing back with a black and white striped shirt.

"Okay! Pyrrha Nikos vs. Jaune Arc! You wrestle until you get a pin for three or until your opponent taps! Ring the bell, Nora!" Ruby demanded, Nora looking around a bell and finding nothing.

"Uh… ding-ding-ding!" Nora bellowed out as Jaune tried to run out of the ring, only to be grabbed from behind by Pyrrha and lifted up and over his head, landing on his back just behind her. He gasped from the wind escaping his lungs, before grabbing her leg and trying to twist it to bring her down. She spun out of it, letting Jaune stand back up. He threw a punch, and she catched it with the greatest of ease, twisting his wrist and spinning behind him, a free arm wrapping around his neck as she dropped him to the ground for a choke.

"Ugh…" Jaune said, struggling. "I uhh… I give! I can't breathe!" he gasped out, Ruby shaking her head.

"You gotta tap!" she barked out.

"I can't! She's grabbing my arms!"

"Then tap with your legs!" Ruby responded, Jaune weakly tapping his foot. Pyrrha let go of Jaune. "

"Ah, much better than fighting a dummy," she said, Jaune begging to disagree. "Seems like your sister was going easy on you when she was barring your arm." she observed, Jaune nodding a bit as air made its way back to his lungs.

"Yeah… a bit… though I have seen her dislocate arms before." he said as he slowly got up, Pyrrha tossing a bottle of water to him.

"Ruby, see if you can find a ring bell, I want the rematch to be a bit more official." she said, Ruby quickly saluting. "Yes, ma'am!" she squeaked out before sliding through the bottom rope and looking for where they might put a ring bell.

As she walked, she stopped by a section labeled "Weaponry Corner" where Weiss was standing with her rapier at the ready, moving repetitively. "Step 1, 2… step 1, 2… step 1, 2.." she muttered as Ruby walked up to her.

"Hi, Weiss!" she said, Weiss nearly falling on her face as she was taken by surprise.

"Farmgirl! Don't break my concentration! What do you want, anyway?!" Weiss shouted, glaring at Ruby.

"Ah… sorry. Just wanted to see what you're doing." she said, not looking Weiss in the eye. Weiss sighed, placing her hand on her temple.

"If you must know, I am practicing my footwork. I have to get my steps precisely, much like a dance. My style is a combination of art and science, unlike your useless flailing of a weed whacker you call a weapon." she said, turning her nose up.

"Yeah, but it works! I bet it works better than your fancy-pants sword" Ruby argued, Weiss letting out a huff of disbelief.

"Oh, really? Well, a Schnee never turns down a challenge. Alright then, your backwater methods vs. my refined fighting style. There are some practice weapons in the far left corner," she said, nudging her head to a bench full of wooden replica weapons and padded armor. Ruby walked over and grabbed the scythe, Weiss taking the replica and putting on the helmet. "The contest will be a best of three, if you you lose your weapon or your knee hits the floor, then you have lost the round. Are you ready?" Weiss asked as she headed to her side of the dueling mat.

Ruby soon stepped up to her side, getting into her fighting stance. Weiss spun the practice rapier a bit in her hand before pointing it to Ruby. "If I win, you will never speak to me again." she said before pulling back the rapier, the blade touching her right shoulder and she slashed the air in front of her. Before they could fight, the two heard a voice call out to their right.

"Hey! Lay off my sister, you brat!" Yang shouted, taping up one of her fists as she walked over.

"Yang! I can take care of this myself!" Ruby shot back, growing red with anger and embarrassment.

"Stay back! If you hit me, I'll have you sued, you backwater lunatic!" Weiss shouted, taking a step back as Yang grabbed Ruby's hand, the sisters walking off.

"I could've taken her, Yang!" Ruby exclaimed, her older sister stopping her.

"I know, but you can't be going around picking fights on your first day, sis." she replied, pulling her sister in under her arm. "Now here comes… the noogie!" she exclaimed, burying her fist into Ruby's head as Ruby cried out in anguish.

"Nooooo! Not the noogie!" she cried, struggling to escape the noogie, seeing Jaune get taken down to the mat by Pyrrha as they walked by.

"Now, come on and hold this power bag for me." Yang said, propping her sister against the large sandbag as she threw punches to it, nearly knocking Ruby off. Yang ran through her entire arsenal of hooks, jabs, haymakers and uppercuts for 20 minutes, looking at her watch. "Come on, let's grab a quick dinner and lay out our sleeping bags. Maybe tomorrow we can get some studying in." Yang said, Ruby standing dizzily against the power bag.

"Okay… I can get behind that…" she said in a daze. Yang grabbing her hood and dragging her to the Dining Hall.

Dinner went by without incident, being mostly leftovers from lunch and none of the second years were there. As quickly as dinner ended, the children headed into the auditorium carrying sleeping bags and pajamas. Lines assembled by the bathrooms, people changing in the stalls, leaving their clothes. Ruby got into her pajamas, heading into the auditorium. She spotted Velvet among the the initiates preparing for bed, carrying a flashlight and shakily watching for any inappropriate behavior. "R-remember to stay to your o-own cots, students!" she said with her usual stammer, keeping a lookout for the young man with burnt orange hair who had started the food-throwing incident. "W-we don't want to ex-expel you on the grounds of-" Velvet said as Ruby walked over and patted her on the shoulder. The older student let out of a yelp, dropping her flashlight.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!" Ruby said, looking around for the flashlight.

"O-oh, you're the little one that tried to eat a whole cake." Velvet said, giving off an uneasy smile as Ruby handed her the flashlight.

"I would've done it too if Yang didn't try to suffocate me with a potato…" Ruby grumbled, darting her eyes to the floor before turning back to Velvet. "But anyway, I wanted to ask you about something." she said, Velvet pulling her hood down tighter.

"I-It's not about my ears… is it?" Velvet asked, trying to shrink herself down and become unseen.

"No, Jaune told me about that. What I was actually wondering is if you knew something about Weiss." Ruby said, the rabbit Faunus stiffening in front of her.

"W-Weiss? Wh-why would I know anything about W-W-Weiss?" she said, her stammer getting worse at the thought of talking about her again.

"Well, you two talked for a bit and she seemed rather friendly to you." Ruby explained, feeling a twinge of guilt hit her as Velvet shakily held the torch, trying to focus on the sleeping students.

"N-nothing! I-I-I j-just met her! Pl-please go to your cot!" she requested, Ruby backing away slowly and nodding. There was something weird about Velvet, that was for sure. As she headed for her sleeping bag, she walked by Blake, who was sitting up against the wall reading.

"Velvet worked for the Schnee family as a slave." she said bluntly, a hint of venom as she said the word "slave" while her eyes stayed on her copy of _K &P:R_. Ruby came to a stop. Blake just said something to her! She quickly turned her head, trying to engage Blake in a conversation.

"A slave? But I thought Weiss said that slavery thing was just a rumor." Ruby responded, Blake rolling her eyes a bit.

"She likes to say so and she has Velvet convinced that was just another worker, but that's just all a cover. You can't trust a thing Weiss tells you. She was raised by PR and damage control." Blake said, her voice growing colder. There was a still silence between them, Ruby trying to think of a change of subject to break the silence.

"So… how's the book going?" she asked, Blake catching on to to Ruby's discomfort with the conversation.

"It's okay… you can sit and read with me if you want." Blake offered, Ruby's eyes lighting up as she ran to get her copy from the patched-up remains of her backpack, fishing it out to see it survived the scythe cut from earlier that afternoon. Blake picked up the lantern next to her, twisting the dial a bit to brighten the yellow Dust crystal in the center. She ran back to Blake, sitting herself against the wall next to Blake and finding her space which looked to be 20 pages behind.

Within minutes, the gap had shortened to about five pages. "Wow, you're really good at reading for someone so young," Blake said, Ruby warming up a bit.

"Well, I've loved books… my mom, my Uncle Crow, Yang… they all read to me when I was little. I loved it when they'd tell me stories of Hunters going out and battling the Grimm, stories of my mother killing a whole pack of Beowolves with her scythe, Uncle Crow leaping from tree to tree to chase after a Nevermore… it was all so amazing. It's what made me want to be here in Beacon. To be just like them and protect those that can't protect themselves…" Ruby said, Blake smiling a bit. There was something about this kid that reminded her of herself when she was young and bright-eyed, thinking she could take on the world.

"That's really ambitious for a child," she said, her smile dropping. "Unfortunately, the real world isn't like the ones we read where the good guys win in the end over the evil empires. Bad things happen and they can't be resolved easily."

"Well… that's why we're here. To make it better." Ruby countered, still keeping a smile on her face.

"So, why did you join Beacon?" she asked, Blake's eyes stopping dead in their tracks. She thought of what to say next when a voice rang out in front of them.

"Hello~!" Yang said with a huge grin, Ruby trying to bury herself in her book. "So, seems you already met my sister, so I guess I'll introduce myself. I'm Yang, and you are?" Yang asked, Blake looking up at the loudmouthed intruder.

"Blake." she said bluntly, Yang trying to hold a smile.

"N-nice to meet you, Blake… nice night we're having, huh? It's like a big slumber party!" Yang said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, stretching out her arms to emphasize the word "big" while Blake returned to her book. "So, you takin' that book down to slamtown?" she asked, Blake blinking in confusion.

"Slamtown?" Blake replied, only to get a double finger guns gesture.

"Yeah, you know. As you always say, 'Reckoning'' that book." Yang shot back with the biggest fake grin imaginable.

"Yang… please go to bed." Ruby said, Yang letting out a laugh and dropping a playful fist onto her sister's head. "Heh, kids these days, huh? They say the darndest things!"

Ruby struggled out from the noogie. "I've… ow! Never said that, Yang!" said Ruby, trying to block the fist with her book.

"You sure, sis? Because I must be 'Fist'taken!" Yang said, Blake letting out a groan of anguish and defeat, burying her face into her own book.

"Yang, please stop! It hurts! Your puns hurt!" Ruby cried, hoping that one of the second years would come by and put an end to this. Yang pulled back her fist, crouching a bit.

"Really? I think my puns are an 'uppercut' above the rest!" she said as she launched into an uppercut, sending Ruby's copy of _K &P:R_ into the air.

"N-no!" Ruby shouted as her book flapped about in the air, before the spine of the book was snatched by the cat-like reflexes of her new friend.

"There we go." Blake said, holding onto her beret as she handed the book back to Ruby. Ruby grabbed on, flipping through to try and find her place. Blake turned to Yang, giving her a stinkeye.

"What?" Yang said, pointing a thumb to her chin. "You wanna go? Come on! One on the chin!" Yang taunted, Blake placing her bookmark in and putting her fists up, Ruby panicking at the idea of her sister and friend fighting.

However, before they could come to blows, the aroma of roasted coffee beans hit their noses. "Huh? Who's got coffee?" Yang asked, the trio turning to see Weiss sitting by her cot with a portable coffee maker and a small lantern, a yellow glow coming from the Light Dust that was being fueled with iridescent powder. "Of course fancypants Weiss needs a cup of coffee before bed. Doesn't she know that's counterproductive?" Yang joked, Blake rolling her eyes.

"Just another excess for the heiress of the Schnee family." Blake replied, the two turning and looking at each other with a smile before turning their heads away from each other, Yang walking off while Blake shut off her lantern.

Ruby headed for her sleeping bag, reaching into her backpack and pulling out her Pyrrha plush, carefully adjusting it to lie down down next to her, tiny arms resting on the blanket. "Good night, Pyrrha." Ruby said, The plush, being an inanimate object, did not respond to her and the real Pyrrha was already asleep, so Ruby got a response from neither. She looked around the room, seeing the others sleeping. Jaune was barely able to keep his nightcap from falling off his head. Nora was snoring loudly, which seemed to not affect Ren, who was asleep next to her. Blake was curled up in a ball, looking content where she was. Yang was out like a light, barely even reaching the covers before collapsing. Ruby saw Weiss still awake, sipping her coffee. In the faint light, Ruby could see dark rings around Weiss' eyes, but turned to her book to read herself to sleep.


	9. Hitting the Books

Ruby and Yang entered the library, Ruby's eyes lighting up immediately at the sight of massive bookshelves lined with books of all sizes. "Ahh… if only I could borrow -ALL THE BOOKS!-" Ruby said, running to a shelf and grabbing as many as she could, getting a stack taller than her. "Anh…. just gotta… get one more…: she said, stumbling back and being buried under the books as they collapsed onto her. The room was filled with the sounds of shushing while Yang brushed aside books, pulling her little sister out.

"Maybe you should start with the books you need to study." Yang offered while Ruby began to organize the books, nodding and putting some away. As she walked over to another shelf, Ruby stopped at the sight of a poster on the bookshelf.

The poster showed a small, cartoonish caricature of Glynda Goodwitch waving her wand and producing a purple text bubble. Inside the text bubble, in an ugly light-green comic sans lettering "Glynda Sez: Find a Study Buddy!" with a parrot wearing a mortarboard underneath the text bubble. The bird had the moniker of "Percival the Parrot" and extolled the virtues of taking notes and not "ruffling your feathers." Ruby sighed, she had seen similar posters back at Signal and expected something a little less patronizing from her time in Beacon. But, she ignored the gaudy poster and looked around, seeing Jaune and Pyrrha were sitting at a table while Ren and Nora were sat a couch, Nora attempting to build a fortress out of books and pillows. The only two Ruby recognized that were on their own were Weiss and Blake. Weiss was at the leftmost table with Blake had taken the right. Yang slapped Ruby's shoulder a bit, nearly startling the younger sister.

"So, let's get cracking on those books, study buddy!" Yang said with a big grin, Ruby thinking it over.

"Actually, and I know how crazy this sounds, but I want to try studying with Weiss." Ruby said, Yang taking her hand off Ruby's shoulder.

"What? The bossy girl that called us backwater? Why would you want to help her?" Yang asked, worried for her sister's mental state.

"Well, she looks lonely sitting there on her own." Ruby answered, Yang rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, and for good reason. She talks like she runs this place, you think anyone's gonna want to be near her?" Yang asked.

"I'm still gonna try and reach out to her. She may not want to be my friend, but I'd like to not have her hate me," Ruby said, gathering the books she had collected. "Maybe you can Blake can try being study buddies." she said as she walked off, Yang taking in an uneasy breath.

"Yeah… it'd be swell…" Yang said with a forced smile. Ruby soon made it to Weiss' table, setting down her books. Weiss looked up, seeing the red-hooded girl from her first day taking a seat.

"You? I thought I made it clear that I never wanted to see your face again." Weiss said with an annoyed tone.

"I know, but you need a study buddy and I want to help you study." Ruby responded, Weiss raising an eyebrow.

"You? Help me study? What would a farmgirl like you know about Dust?" Weiss asked.

"Well, that it's the concentrated essence of elements found in nature, capable of generating the element it forms. And that the strength of the element is based on how bright it glows." Ruby said, Weiss being caught off guard.

"That's… that's right…" she said, blinking a bit and quickly jotting down notes. "Okay, what are the four core elements of Dust?" Weiss asked, Ruby quick to answer.

"Fire, Water, Earth and Wind." Weiss nodded, right again.

"Okay… so you're smarter than I gave credit for… what's your name again?" Weiss asked, Ruby smiling a bit.

"Ruby Rose. Now then, let's get down to business." Ruby said as she pulled open a book on Dust, flipping through the pages to find the page Weiss was on. Ruby opened her notebook, writing notes to match her studying partner's before joining her in reading.

"While primarily used for combat, people have found more mundane uses for Dust in their everyday lives; name an example of common Dust use." Weiss said, Ruby thinking a bit before answering.

"Lanterns using Light Dust in place of candles for light." she replied, Weiss nodding and writing it down. "Why were you using a lantern anyway? I mean, isn't it counterproductive to sleep with a light on?" Ruby asked, Weiss stopping her writing.

"It helps me sleep. Everyone has something to help them sleep. I have my lantern and you have your little doll." the Schnee heiress said with a smirk, Ruby's ears turning pink.

"It's a plushie, not a doll. And I don't need Lil' Pyrrha to sleep at night! ...I usually read in order to get to sleep." she said, turning to the book to find something to change the subject with. "While many tend to use the standard cartridges, older methods such as embedding into skin and clothing were used before being banned. Why were they banned?" Ruby asked, Weiss nodding and recollecting the stories her father told her.

"Because of the danger involved in their use. The story of Anthony the Arms Master comes to mind. He was a blacksmith who wove Fire Dust into his pants Of course, when he was hammering a sword, a spark came off the blade and ignited his pants and soon he was left without legs." Weiss said, Ruby suppressing the urge to laugh too loudly.

"Well, I guess you could say he had… hot pants." Ruby said, mentally kicking herself for making such a terrible pun, only for Weiss to chuckle slightly, a small smile forming on her face.

"Right and as for enthusing Dust to the body, it's because of what was named 'Dust Psychosis.' A condition where the user slowly over time loses their grasp on reality, becoming more and more deranged." Weiss read off the textbook, the two continuing their study.

"I AM QUEEN OF FORT CASTLE! BOW BEFORE ME, PITIFUL MORTALS!" Nora shouted, eliciting shushes from the students. Ruby and Weiss both shushed in unison, looking at each other askew before returning to their notes.

"Yes, Nora. Now, if you were being invaded from the sea, who would be the ones attacking you?" Ren asked, Nora rubbing her chin in thought.

"Oh! Oh! The Vacuo Naval Fleet!" she answered, trying to speak in both an excited and hushed tone.

"Correct, their main form of attack tends to come from the ocean and the sky, as well… soldiers can't cross the ocean floor to attack." Ren explained, Nora poking a finger from the eyehole in her book fort.

"They never met a Valkyrie! We fought from the ocean all the time!" Nora said excitedly.

"Doubtful, but how successful would their attack be against… Fort Castle?" he asked, straining himself to say such a name.

"We would crush them under boots of iron without any mercy!" she said, Ren nodding.

"Yes, but that's not simply because of your… strong fortification but also due to Vacuo's disadvantages as an armed force. Vacuo is located in a desert with a society historically built on scavengers surviving under harsh conditions. Their economy still operates on Raiders heading out past the dunes to gather remains of fallen airships to sell and re-purpose along with some basic agriculture and mining, you can only do so much out of an oasis. Along with that, their fleet is fledgling, having only been in existence for five years, last year being the addition of the air force."

"Speaking of air force, let's say you're getting hit from above with robots raining down onto your castle. Who is attacking you then?" Ren asked, Nora looking up through the opening in her book-and-pillow fortress.

"Dive-bombing robots! That must be Atlas!" Nora shouted, throwing a spare book in the air, which Ren caught.

"Correct, and your chances of survival are slimmer than in a naval battle against Vacuo. Atlas is a land with a large military with a very small amount of human soldiers. The population of Atlas is very limited and even with compulsory military, theirs is a fraction compared to Vale and without a lot of Dust, the people of Atlas slanted towards the use of automatons, typically selling outdated prototypes for profit to import even more Dust, as they were always three models ahead of anything they would have sold to any of the other kingdoms."

"Now, let's take this in a different direction. Say you hire a new chef at Fort Castle. His first dinner and you keel over. Dead. The chef poisoned your food and your inquisitorial squad tortured him for days on end until he revealed who had sent him. He dies uttering the name of his homeland, but if you've been reading, you've already guessed where he's from. So how about it, Nora?" Ren asked, Nora quickly answering.

"He's from Mistral! That sneaky chef! He'll be made an example of! He'll face a firing squad of Fire Dust arrows!" Nora cried out in a bloodthirsty screech.

"Correct, while Mistral's economy is heavy on trade and open borders, they are notoriously treacherous with an emphasis on assassinations and wet work over a formal military. This is all not really known among the people of Mistral itself, as many people like to think that it's either unfortunate events or Mistral's government managing to keep the peace… But it's all just dirty tactics with no grace or honor involved..." Ren said with a scowl.

"And what about the one we're in?" Nora asked, pulling Ren away from his stupor.

"Ah, yes. Vale. Vale's greatest export is Dust, with Schnee Dust having the largest amount of Dust to offer to each kingdom due to its unique, but secret way to turn ore into Dust in a 1:1 ratio. It is also the most populated kingdom, with the strongest army in pure manpower. And, of course, Beacon Academy is the largest combat academy for training Hunters, with roughly 8000 students going through these halls every day." Ren explained, Nora returning into Nora the Conqueror mode.

"AND ALL WILL FALL BEFORE NORA VALKYRIE! QUEEN OF FORT CASTLE! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" she bellowed out, being shushed by Blake and Yang next.

"And I thought you were loud." Blake said, Yang rolling her eyes.

"Gee, thanks. Anyway, what were we reading about again?" she asked, Blake looking up from the book.

"The Grimm." she said, Yang nodding.

"Oh, right. The thing we're fighting. Dunno why we need whole books on them. I mean, they're just evil monsters we have to kill, right?" Yang asked, Blake blinking a bit.

"You have to know your enemy if you want to kill it. It not as simple as just going in and killing them, it's a long and still relatively unknown process, we're lucky we can hold them off for as long as we have; since we don't have a solution of getting rid of them for good." Blake said, turning through the pages. "What we do know is that they are creatures made of living shadow that take the form of animals. There are theories as to why that is the case, such as Grimm being the spirits of tortured animals or Grimm being nature's way of culling overpopulated humanity. Though the theories have very little evidence apart from the violent actions of the Grimm."

"Plus, the act of simply going out and killing a Grimm is foolhardy unless you have the right weapon or proper protection as Grimm are more often than not pack animals that travel in large groups. And even if you survive the onslaught, you're still at risk of The Corruption." Blake explained, Yang raising an eyebrow.

"The Corruption? Never heard of that one." she said, Blake pointing to the excerpt on the disease.

"It is an ailment caused by Grimm blood entering an open wound. It slowly removes the inhibitions of the afflicted, making them more animalistic if left untreated. They will attack anyone they see and it is believed that the afflicted will eventually turn into a Grimm themselves." Blake read in a morbid tone, Yang shivering a bit.

"That's freaky… but what about Faunus? Are they tied to the Grimm?" Yang asked, Blake giving her a glare before shaking her head.

"No, but they have often been associated with them due to their animal features. However, recent studies have offered the idea that Faunus are the link between humanity and the animal world. Where Grimm fit into this is still being looked into."

"Finally, Grimm are notoriously difficult to capture due to their destructive nature. They don't hunt for food or survival, they simply hunt for the sake of it. What has been proven is that they gravitate toward negative emotions. Fear, hate and distress tend to drive Grimm into frenzies, making them more likely to raid buildings. One kingdom contemplated controlling the emotions of its populace to try and weaken the Grimm. A sound theory, but its execution resulted in the populace fearing its own government. The people became distrusting and riots broke out. The outburst of negative emotions resulted in a mass swarm of Grimm that wiped out the entire kingdom. Thousands of years of culture and history wiped out within a week. One week and now no one even remembers the name of the damned kingdom." Blake said, shaking a bit at the thought.

"Yeah, but they didn't have me around," Yang said in a cocksure tone, standing up pointing her thumbs to the white belt wrapped around her waist. "Got this bad boy off a Beowolf."

"You've been fighting small stuff compared to the kind of Grimm I've seen. The kind of Grimm that Bartholomew Oobleck has studied during his time in the wild," Blake said, referencing a highly decorated researcher in the field of Grimm Studies and a teacher at Beacon she had read about. "...When I was four, I watched as a pack of Ursi made its way through the village, ripping apart anyone in sight while children were carted off in covered wagons to get them out. Get them anywhere they would be safe. You grew up in Patch, right Yang? Imagine everyone you knew in Patch. The grocery store clerk, the barber, the doctor, your family, your neighbors. These people you see every day and take for granted. Now imagine all of them lying in piles of corpses, their blood staining the ground. All the buildings you'd pass by reduced to rubble…" Blake said coldly, Yang moving away from the table, her face turning a sickly pale.

"...Well, you're fun to talk to." Yang quipped, holding herself up as she got out of her seat.

"What we're doing isn't for fun. It's a job and one that no one else wants to do." Blake replied, returning to her notebook. Yang took off, leaving the library with her hand over her mouth.


	10. The Entrance Exam, Part 1

"Come on… where am I?" Ruby muttered, looking at the massive electronic scoreboard, names and pictures covering the board, ranking each student in the written exam from 1-300. Ruby soon found herself ranked #53, smiling a bit. "Yang! Look! I'm close to the top 50!" Ruby cried, pointing excitedly at her ranking, not even caring about her terrible school photo.

"That's great, Ruby! Now let's see where I rank!" Yang said, ruffling her sister's. She started from 53 and kept going down, her massive grin slowly fading as she hit #217. "Oh…" she said, dropping her hand from Ruby's head.

"It's okay, sis. You're only 164 below me! You'll make that up in no time!" Ruby said with an optimistic smile. "Yeah…" Yang replied with a heavy sigh.

"Huh, only 146? I would've been higher if I was seated next to Ren!" Nora said, Ren shaking his head as he looked up at his #15 ranking.

"They wouldn't have allowed you to copy my answers, Nora. And I would not have allowed it either." he said as Jaune looked for his position.

"#41! I'm in the top 50!" Jaune said with a grin. "What about you, Pyrrha?" he asked, Pyrrha looking and finding herself at #35.

"What?! #66?! I'm behind the farmgirl?!" Weiss cried, objecting to her position being so low in comparison to Ruby. Blake simply looked up, saw that her score was in the 20s and walked off. She made the cut and that was more important than the flag-waving the others did. The remaining 300 were corralled by a barrel-chested man in a burgundy pilot's jacket with gold piping and buttons sporting a magnificent gray mustache. He lead them towards a corridor with two doors, each with the standard symbols for male and female marking the door.

"Inside these doors are locker rooms. Within each locker will be a tracksuit you will wear for the duration of this test. Your knowledge has carried you this far, but now comes my favorite part of the Initiation Exams: The Physical Assessment!" the man said, Ruby raising her hand.

"Professor Port, what can we expect on this part of the exam?" she asked.

"Ha! You think I would give away the answers? All you need to understand is that this will not be a simple walk in the park. Now, get yourselves dressed and ready. You all have 30 minutes to be out on that course!" Port said, walking off while the students made their way in. As Jaune looked for a tracksuit in his size, he overheard some talk among other initiates. Jaune recognized them as the ones who were throwing produce at Velvet during their first day at the school and fourth who stayed seated during the whole affair.

"Man, can you believe how boring that test was? This physical assessment better be good or I may as well jump out at the first chance." said a young man with burnt orange hair and blue eyes. To Jaune's distress, he was sporting an impressive set of abs as he put on a crimson tracksuit.

"And miss out on all the fine ladies that walkin' the halls? C'mon, Cardin. You gotta stick around for more than just the fighting." another argued as he zipped up his dark blue suit.

"Yeah, there's some nice pieces around here," Cardin said with a smirk. "But that leaves me spoiled for choices, don't it? I mean, you got the older upper class types, the curvy ones, the cute and dainty ones, the ones who are.. weird.. animal… people, I like them stacked personally." Cardin said as him and his black-haired friend had a laugh. "But it's like my dad always said; Gotta go for the gold. So maybe Pyrrha Nikos." Cardin said, getting a pat on the shoulder from his second friend in a green tracksuit.

"Heh, savin' the silver for me then, huh? That's cool. Hey, Dove. You got a pick on this?" the green-suited man said, turning to the fourth member of their posse who had just gotten on a light brown tracksuit.

"I think we should probably focus on the actual test." Dove said, heading out first with the rest of them heading off with a laugh. Jaune sighed, zipping his suit up and heading off. The 300 had gathered at the entrance of a massive stadium, seeing a table covered in several small gold-plated silver cup with an engraving of inter-crossed axes surrounded by laurels, the symbol of Beacon Academy. Underneath the trophy were belts with six round holes. Port spoke through the loudspeakers, making an announcement.

"Your first trial shall begin by carrying a trophy across the field with Chargers coming from the side to tackle you to the ground. Those in the lower hundreds be advised that losing your trophy to a Charger not only means elimination from the trial, but also that you will not be admitted to Beacon for an entire year. Once you reach the end goal, you will need to defend your trophy in a fight to gain the first of six medallions to be placed on your belt. Claim all six medallions and you will be ranked at the top of the class and receive a unique opportunity. Now then… grab your belt and trophy." the speakers blared out, everyone gathering to grab a cup and belt. Ruby, decked in a red tracksuit, was shuffling her feet and waiting to break out in a run.

The buzzer sounded and the assembled made a mad dash for the field, Jaune nearly being trampled as he weaved through the charging crowd, seeing Ruby take a commanding lead alongside a few other students who were matching her in speed. The Chargers, dressed in black suits of plastic armor and helmets, made their way out and began diving for the leading students, Ruby using her small stature to duck under incoming Chargers, rolling on the ground and then returning to a sprint as she got away from them. Weiss chose a more defensive strategy, sliding past a Charger and quickly kicking their leg out underneath them, which gave an added advantage of time to a few other students. Blake took advantage of her illusory Semblance, causing Chargers to hit a fake or another student while she weaved her way past them, catching up with Ruby. "Hah hah… this is certainly not what I expected from the physical test." Ruby said through fast breaths.

"What? You… huff… thought they were gonna have us climb a rope?" Blake joked, Ruby laughing a bit before turning to check on the others, seeing Yang just straight up throw hooks at Chargers that got too close.

Nora ran happily across the field, bowling over Chargers as if they were nothing. "Come on, boys! Grandma Hilda hits harder on family reunions!" she shouted, clotheslining another Charger as Ren dashed ahead, sweeping any Chargers that Nora missed. Pyrrha shoulder-checked Chargers on her way there, Jaune staying close behind her, watching students get sent to the ground hard by the Chargers. Cardin and his group took to stomping out Chargers and weaker students before moving out, Cardin taking notice of Jaune and pointing him to the others.

"Run! Run!" Jaune shouted, Pyrrha picking up her pace as they soon made it to the end goal, placing their trophies onto the table where others had already been set."Huh… hah… made it." Jaune said with a weak smile.

"Yeah… but we're not done yet." Pyrrha said as more students gathered around, setting down their trophies and congratulating their friends on a job well done. Around 200 students had survived this part of the trial, the doors opened to a wrestling ring where the gatekeeper of the second part was waiting for them.

He had a sickeningly orange fake tan and long blonde unnaturally flowing locks and a constant pout to his face. "Alright, dudes and dudettes, you've made it this far and you should all be feeling good. But a little calisthenics isn't gonna get you into Beacon. You gotta be able to take and give a good punch. You wanna make it to the second trial, then you gotta be able to take this man of nature down." he said with a flex, showing off his shiny, uncomfortable-looking muscles. "You got three minutes and if you get put to the mat, then you're outta here. Hit the showers before the showers hit you, brah."

"Uh… Pyrrha, do you have any idea what he just said?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha shaking her head.

"No, but he reminds me of my old wrestling coach, Mr. Ritters. He was… eccentric as well." Pyrrha said as the musclehead ripped off his shirt, which looked to be made of the weakest fabric imaginable.

"I think he staged that." Jaune observed.

"Now! Who wants to chisel off a piece of Rock Morrison?" the beefcake asked, showing off his delts. Pyrrha nodded, climbing through the ropes into the ring. "Righteous! First fight's gonna be against the Lady of the Colosseum herself! Ring the bell, brah!" Rock ordered, a bell being rung as the match started. There was a stir in the gathered students over this sight. Pyrrha Nikos, four time Mistral Regional Tournament Champion Pyrrha Nikos fighting against Vale Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Champion Kevin "Rock" Morrison. And in Beacon Academy no less. The crowd chanted heavily in favor of Pyrrha, "You there! Redsuit! Get in here and be the ref!" Rock shouted as he tossed a referee shirt to Ruby, who quickly put the striped shirt on, climbing into the ring.

The two circled each other, Rock stopping to pose for assumed cameras. Pyrrha simply stared at him, taking the opening and running straight past him under one of his flexed arms, putting him in a half nelson and hauling his entire body back and sending him flat on the shoulders. "W-woah!" he said as he spilled onto the floor. Phyrra slipped out from underneath him, grabbing his waist and deadlifting him back up to give him a second suplex, bridging into a pin. Ruby quickly got down count 1… 2… Rock kicked out of the pin before Ruby's hand hit the mat for the third time. "I wasn't ready!" He complained, pushing her off and quickly getting back on his feet so they could circle each other for real. Phyrra attempted another go behind and try another suplex, but Rock spun out of it, twisting underneath her and wrenching an arm. "Sorry sis! Gotta take you down to slamtown!" He shouted, wrenching her head under his arm as he pulled the wrist back and tried to make her submit. Pyrrha answered this by leaping into a front flip, slamming his weight back down onto the mat with her back and shoulders on top. "1...2.." He kicked out once again. "Gotta try harder than that, babe!" He boasted, rolling out and standing back up. "And watch this!"

He ran straight at her, arm cocked back and ready to throw a haymaker, but as the punch was swung, Phyrra leaped into the air, grabbing his arm and wrenching it backward, hooking her leg, and spinning, flipping him onto his back and straight into an arm submission. Rock tried to flex her off his arm, but Pyrrha held tight, twisting the wrist for added leverage Rock used his free hand to tap down on the map, Ruby excitedly flailing and calling for the bell. The bell was rung as Pyrrha released the armlock, standing up while Ruby grabbed her idol's arm, raising it in victory. The orange musclehead stood up, offering a hand. "Good match, dudette. That was a nasty armbar." he said, Pyrrha shaking his hand and stepping out of the ring. Rock left next, allowing a ghostly pale man with a ridiculous orange mohawk, letting out a loud scream as he called for an opponent.

"Alright! Who wants to be the first victim?" he said, the crowd going silent save for a faint snickering.

"You see the mohawk on this guy?" Jaune asked, seeing everyone step away from him. The ghostly man pointed to Jaune, who came close to matching that paleness as he was suddenly shoved close to the ring.

"Go get him, Jaune! Show them how the Arcs do it!" a voice from behind called as Jaune slowly crawled in, Ruby called for the bell.

The match came to a finish just as quickly as Jaune felt a boot strike him in the face before he could even blink, sending him to the floor, unconscious. When he came to, Ruby was helping him up. "You alright, Jaune?" she asked, Jaune slowly climbing to his feet.

"Y-yeah… what happened?" Jaune asked, shaking his head.

"You uh… you lost in eight seconds. Three of that was me counting the pin." Ruby said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. Jaune sighed a bit, looking around and seeing Cardin still laughing several minutes after.

"Hey… you wanna take over being referee? I've done, like, 50 matches and my shoulder's starting to hurt from counting."

"Do you get kicked in the face?" he asked, Ruby shaking her head.

"They can't touch or hit you, or else they'll get disqualified." she replied, Jaune quickly grabbing the black and white striped shirt.

"Okay, I'll ref the next couple of matches." he said, stepping in as Yang rolled in, doing a little shuffle in her corner as she was met with a bald dark-skinned man with what could charitably described as "squiggles" on his face, wrapping white athletic tape around his hands.

"You think you can handle these punches, lady? I hit like dynamite!" the man said with a slight lisp, destroying his intimidating figure as Yang had to suppress her laughter, not wanting to end up a permanent fixture of the mat like Jaune almost did.

"Well, you better be packing some yield because I'm coming at you like the bomb squad!" Yang taunted, drawing more groans than cheers.

"If puns were grounds for disqualification…" Jaune muttered as he called for the bell. Yang's opponent charged in immediately with a rain of punches, Yang blocking and dodging each shot. His punches were packed, nearly shattering her arms when she blocked. She got shots in, which only seemed to anger him further until he wound up with an uppercut, catching her right on the chin. Yang braced as hard as she could, hearing a sickening crunch as the force of the punch sent her reeling back to her corner, Jaune rushing to check on her. The crowd, who had been fired up during the actual fight, went silent at the sight of this, some thinking Yang had just been killed. "Yang! Yang, you alright? I think we need to call the match" he asked, Yang letting a groan before spitting out a tooth.

"You call for the bell and I'll make sure they never find your body." Yang said with a scowl, slowly forcing herself back to a standing position. "I'm not leaving this ring unless my hand is raised or I'm in body bag." Yang stomped back to the center, immediately firing back with a hard right that caught her opponent off-guard. The next shot was blocked, and the two stood there, trading blows back and forth, Yang glowing a bright yellow with each shot. The crowd went wild, cheering for Yang with each successful shot. And while the man with dynamite punches was wearing down, Yang seemed to be hitting harder and harder.

"How is she getting better? Does she get stronger with each hit?" Weiss asked, Ruby shaking her head.

"No, she's just getting angrier. Her Semblance makes her stronger whenever she gets angry. And right now, she's furious." Ruby explained as she turned back to Yang, reared back and fired an uppercut of her own, hitting him in the jaw and shattering his teeth as he hit the floor, Yang stepping over to his unconscious body and putting a boot on his chest, yelling "COME ON, BABY!" as Jaune counted the three. Yang stood in the ring with her arms outstretched and screaming in a mix of rage and joy. She was going to advance to the next trial, but she was currently still in rage state caused everyone to back away from the ring in fear of it exploding. Yang soon started to cool down, falling facefirst onto the mat. Students came in to help carry the unconscious Yang out as another student took her place, waiting for their opponent.

"That… was the scariest thing I had ever seen." Jaune said with wide eyes, Ruby chuckling.

"What can I say? When Yang wants to win, there's no stopping her."


	11. The Entrance Exam, Part 2

Ruby put a cold cloth on Yang's forehead, still smiling. She loved her sister, but she did wish that she didn't end fights covered in own blood. However, before she could do anything else, she heard her name called to enter the ring. She walked over, expecting some sort of massive brick house to tower over her as she stepped in. However, as she leapt over the rope she saw her opponent. A young and somewhat handsome man with a slim and short frame and spiked brown hair, dressed in a black and red tracksuit. "Here's hoping for a good fight." he said as he shook Ruby's hand, his voice rather soft and friendly.

"Uh… thanks." Ruby said, letting go and getting to her corner. Jaune signaled for the bell and the match was on.

The young man shot out of his corner within seconds, Ruby barely dodging him. She hit the ropes, catching herself before she fell out. He could move, that much Ruby was certain of. Ruby tried to leap at him, only to the caught with a spinning kick that sent her crashing to the mat. "Yeah… he's fast…" Ruby muttered, as he went for a pin, kicking out a 1. Ruby quickly got up, rolling up to a nearby turnbuckle. "Okay… gotta think… gotta match speed for speed…" she thought, immediately running for her opponent and trying to sweep his leg, but he managed to jump over her leg and deliver a kick so hard to her chest that the fell right onto her back, her head bouncing off the mat.

"Sorry, you gonna be okay? You're gonna have to do a bit better than that to match 'Bullet Demon' Chance Logan." he said, Ruby rubbing the back of her head. She got up, trying to think of anything that could match Chance as he ran at her, Ruby quickly ducking his kick and climbing up to the top rope. She attempted to dive at him with both legs out, only to be caught at the legs and powerbombed by Chance. Chance headed up, turning into a crouched position. Chance took a quick breath before leaping into the air, curling up as he brought his feet down onto Ruby's stomach and dismounting. Ruby let out a sharp gasp, feeling as if her ribs had been crushed as Chance pinned her, getting a three count.

"Anh… I lost…" she said to herself, taking careful breaths to not damage her bruised ribs, Chance offering a hand.

"A good effort. You have a lot of potential, just need to refine your technique." he said, shaking her hand. Ruby smiled a bit, using her other hand to hold her ribs.

"Thanks." she said as she gingerly made her way out of the ring.

"RUBY!" Yang shouted, running up to her sister. "Are you okay? Anything broken? Who is that jerk, stomping on a little kid? I'll crack his skull open!" Yang said, ruby patting her on the shoulder.

"Easy, sis. It was just some friendly competition and a couple of bruises. Just need an ice pack." Ruby said as she went to find her seat. Ren stepped in next, hitting a single kick to the head of his opponent, pinning him before Jaune could call for a starting bell and pinning them for three. "Whoa…" Ruby said.

"Yeah, Ren's a fighting machine. Of course, that kind of thing would never work on me." she said as she went for the ropes, climbing in to find the ghostly mohawked man who wiped out Jaune. Jaune gulped, staying closer to Nora's corner as he called for the bell. The pale man charged once more for the kick, only to get grabbed by the leg and lifted into an exploder suplex, slamming him into her corner. She let out a battlecry as she ran across the ring, getting herself into position in the opposite corner as the Mohawked Menace came to, Nora charging at him and tackling him at the waist, sending them both crashing into the turnbuckle. Nora pulled him off, throwing him onto the floor and going for a pin, only to get kicked out of at 2. Nora pounded the mat a bit in excitement. "Alright! Come on, big boy!" she shouted as he came back up. grabbing Nora by the throat as he came to his feet, lifting her into the air and slamming her back into a waiting knee before tossing her onto the mat. He went for a pin, Nora kicking out at 1. "Gonna take a lot more than that to put me down!" she roared as the two exchanged throws, Nora getting tossed into the crowd at one point, taking out students who had already competed. Nora got back up, rolling back in and hitting a hard clothesline before picking up the ghost man. She pulled him into a hug, tightening her grip before suplexing him onto the mat, lifting a leg as Jaune counted once more to three.

After another set of students fought, Blake entered next, facing Chance. "I admit, the fights haven't been as exciting as I've hoped." Chance claimed, awkwardly rubbing the stubble on his face as Blake slowly grabbed a ribbon in her pocket, trying her hair back so it doesn't make her beret fly off.

"No promises on excitement, but I want to win." she replied, raising her fists and waiting for the bell.

"That's more than enough." He replied as the bell went off. They both charged each other, meeting in the middle of the ring. Blake and Chance threw flurries of punches and kicks, each one blocked, dodged or knocked to the side with blinding speed. This was going nowhere, so Blake ducked under a kick, planting her hand onto the mat and leaping up into the air to kick at his head with a handstand, Chance blocked it with his hand, grabbing the leg and spinning it to make her roll in the air and land on the ground.

She rolled onto her back, doing a handspring to get back onto her feet and sneaking a kick to his chest, he braced for it, stumbling back a couple of steps to minimize the damage. Blake pushed off her feet and leapt into the air, which he tried to stop with a kick of his own, but it was a faint, and she rolled through under his leap to end up behind him, punching her forearm into his kidneys, which made him gasp for air and stumble forward. "G-gah!" He shouted, turning to her and realizing she was going for a sucker punch with his back turned, he grabbed her arm, tossing it over her shoulder and trying to slam her on the ground. But Blake was too fast, planting her own legs on the ground and slamming him into the mat instead. He rolled through, ignoring the pain and kicking Blake in the head as she was trying to get out of the kneel she needed to do to hip toss him.

Chance went on the offense as Blake got back up, throwing another flurry of high and low kicks to throw her off guard, but she dodged every single one of them, before shoving him away and leaping off the tightly bound ropes, smashing a knee into his chest and nearly forcing him through the ropes and onto the ground if he didn't catch himself by grabbing the rope. He took a breath as Blake slowly cracked her knuckles, waiting for him to attack again. He huffed, getting out of the ropes as Blake leapt for a high kick, but he smacked it aside with a forearm, but Blake rolled onto her hands grabbing his torso with her legs and smashing his back into the ground with a front flip. She rolled back, letting him stand once again as she felt like she wasn't going to even try pinning him just yet, he was only barely out of breath.

But she was getting tired herself, as she lost focus long enough for him to sneak a couple of strikes in as they began to maneuver around each other, each blocking kicks from each other as they tried to find a new opening. Opportunity arose, as Blake threw a kick to his chest that hit solid from the side, but he grabbed onto her leg and refused to let go, spinning her tumbling to the ground with him as he stood up, running to the turnbuckle and leaping atop it in one bound. He backflipped, trying to land two feet where he knew Blake was resting, only to meet the boot of Blake, who got up and kicked him in the face, sending him to the ground. Then she flopped backward on top of him to gasp for air. "One… Two… Three!" Jaune said, the crowd going insane at the sight of such a contest, Blake slowly getting off of Chance. She took a moment so spit blood from her lip, leaving the ring to an elated crowd. Weiss simply walked past Blake, trying to hide her amazement at the display of physicality she had witnessed as she stepped in.

Weiss was shaking a bit, looking to see the crowd watching her with rapt attention. She had to follow up Blake's fight with Chance, no small feat but to do it in front of her potential classmates sent a chill down her spine. "Okay, stay calm Weiss..." she muttered to herself as her opponent stepped into the ring. He was a decently-built young man with short blonde hair and blue eyes. He went for a punch, Weiss blocking and pushing the fist aside. His next attempts were dodged, Weiss moving around him quickly and carefully. Weiss caught his arm, tossing him onto his back with little effort. Her opponent stood up, furiously rearing back to fire off a haymaker only for Weiss to catch his fist and turned his arm around, putting pressure on it until he tapped out. Jaune called for the bell, Weiss letting go of the man's arm and sighing in relief as she got a respectable clap from the crowd, stepping out of the ring. She breathed in, trying to hold back the tears forming in her eyes.

Captain Port soon arrived while the losing students departed. "All advancing students may take their first medallion and meet me in the next room." he said, presenting a wheeled tabled with small silver medallions designed to fit into their belts. They grabbed a medallion each, fitting them into the belt with a small magnet in the notch. They headed to the next door, opening up to an open field with a raised platform. On the platform was a mounted gatling gun, which made the students stand on edge. "Relax, children. There are no bullets in that gun. Only medicine balls. I'd still advise you not to get hit by them and I'd also advise that you not to spend too much time looking at that gun as second years will also be firing at you from the side. The first objective is to run from this hallway to the next while dodging or taking cover behind the protective pillars to keep the medicine balls from knocking you down. Get knocked down three times and you will not advance further." he explained, the remaining students getting into position to run.

Professor Port smiled, heading off to a set of nearby stairs to where two second year students were getting ready. "Ms. Adel, Ms. Scarlatina. Are you two ready?" he asked, Velvet barely looking Port in the eyes as she hefted the heavy sniper rifle, modified to fire medicine balls in her arms.

"I-I guess so… th-these don't hurt, d-do they?" she asked, Port letting out a chuckle.

"Of course they hurt! Don't you remember getting hit by them? Port left welts on me last year with that thing!" said the other student as she pushed up her black sunglasses, dark brown hair poking out under a black beret. "But that's just part of the fun. The rush of energy as you weave through ball after ball! The pain of balls striking the skin! The fear as you peek around the corner of a pillar to see one of the round death-bringers pelt you right between the eyes!" she said with a massive grin, her sunglasses hiding her hazel eyes which were shining with joy. "By the heavens, I'm feeling the hype surging through my veins just thinking about it!" Ms. Adel exclaimed, Velvet slowly backing away.

"R-right… hype…I'm uhh.. the hype at the moment...?" Velvet said nervously while Port let out another belly laugh.

"That's the spirit, Velvet! No inhibitions, give them hell for ol' Port!" he said, the two heading out. Port sat down by the viewing window, pressing the speaker button. "And… RUN!" he shouted, the students breaking out into a run.

Coco loaded the mini-gun and immediately fired with a cry of "DEATH FROM ABOVE, NO SURVIVORS!" alerting the runners to her presence as she fired down on them, hitting a few of the students near the back. Blake weaved in and out between the hail of medicine balls, picking up on a small squeak of "Sorry!" coming from the platform. She turned, seeing Velvet armed with a sniper rifle, taking shots at students, preceded with a quick apology. However, there was a small pause in her apologies whenever she fired at the three who had thrown vegetables at her on the first day. Blake went behind cover, smiling and tipping her beret a bit.

Yang chose an alternate method to dealing with the medicine balls; punching them. Each time Velvet took a shot at Yang, she would simply swat it away or grab it and throwing it back, startling the rabbit Faunus a bit as it hit the wall near her. Coco watched Yang fight off the volley of medicine balls, smirking. "Oh, so she wants to play… it's a date then, Blondie!" Coco exclaimed, turning her fire to exclusively to Yang with a wide, ecstatic grin and her sunglasses sliding down her nose, eyes bloodshot and looking as if they could pop at any second. Yang turned to see an incoming stream of medicine balls, blocking and punching at them. The other students saw the focus was put on Yang and started running past her, Coco too busy trying to drop Yang to even care, laughing maniacally as the airborne assault only got worse and worse.

Yang soon started to falter, taking one ball to the shoulder, then two the gut, then ten to the face and was eventually knocked to the floor, rendered unconscious. "Yeah! Got her! Ahhhh, did you see that, Velvet?! She's not getting up for a good hour! This job is AWESOME!" Coco shouted, scaring the running students as they continued their way to the end. Weiss had managed to dodge her way around each ball that came her way, watching as Blake used illusions to divert Coco's attention. Nora carried Ren on her back, Ren giving her coded instructions.

"Angry Crow Takes Flight!" Ren shouted, Nora jumping into the air. "Drunken Praying Mantis!" he called, Nora sliding on the ground past another hail of balls. "The Sleeping Sloth Soundly Slumbers!" Nora quickly flopped onto the floor, dodging more as they charged through, making it to the end.

Pyrrha managed to make it through partly through her own evasive skills and partly through her fans diving in front of her, taking the shots for her. She sighed, contemplating the idea of forfeiting at this point just to keep others from sacrificing their own chances for her. She shoved one of her protectors side, taking a shot that knocked her down. As she got up, her thoughts changed within a second. "No… I can't give up… I can't surrender." she said, turning around and charging through, taking another few shots along the way. She powered through the hits, making her way to the end where Nora and Ren were standing, waiting at the next door. Blake was soon there as well, letting one last illusory Blake take a fall while Weiss had come in after.

"Not a single hit. Not bad, I'd say." Weiss said with a smile.

"Oh yes, we wouldn't want you to ruin a nail, would we?" Blake sniped, heading towards the door and leaving Weiss fuming.


	12. The Entrance Exam, Part 3

The room beyond the door revealed contained a large indoor pool and a series of suspended circular platforms. "The second part of this trial is to jump from platform to platform to the other side of this room. You cannot fall into the water or you will not advance. As with before, you will be attacked from all sides" Port said as the students began jumping onto the platforms, Ren and Nora continuing their piggyback tactic. Nora leapt from platform to platform, Ren scanning the nearby area and seeing a young man with dark tan skin and dark red-orange hair aiming a rifle for them.

"Sniper at 9!" he said, Nora catching the incoming medicine ball and tossing it at another student., nearly knocking them off. "All clear. Looks like the best platform is… lower right." Ren said, assessing which would get them closer to the end of the room. Nora nodded, jumping off.

Ren kept glancing over to see Pyrrha leap past platforms onto the next in the sequence, stopping to watch for the two second years aiming at them and jumping before they could draw a beam on her. She looked up and saw the next platform above her, a massive one that looked to be too difficult to jump onto. She moved back to the edge of the platform she was standing on, making a running leap for the next platform, grabbing onto it with one hand. As she dangled from the platform, the copper-haired second year took aim. "Easy target." he said, firing at Pyrrha, who quickly reared back her leg, kicking the medicine ball back and getting the shooter square in the forehead.

"GOOOOOOALLLL!" Nora shouted, having stopped to watch Pyrrha pull herself up to the next platform before returning to jumping platforms herself, taking out one of Blake's illusions as she jumped onto another platform. "Oh no! I killed Blake!" Nora cried, falling to her knees and letting out a cry of anguish.

"Nora! I'm over here!" Blake called, waving to her.

"Oh! It's Blake! Hi Blake!" she called back, Blake passing by them on the platform and jumping off. "And that was another Blake! That's the most times I've seen Blake since I've got here." Nora said, Ren nodding.

"Illusions. Only one of them is the real Blake. We may want to get moving and not worry about which Blake is the real one before we get knocked off." Ren said, Nora quickly nodding and getting up, jumping onto the platforms.

The pair saw that Weiss had the advantage in the trial. She leapt into the air, summoning a white, snowflake-shaped glyph in the gap between, bouncing off that and onto the next platform, using a black glyph to stall her momentum and stay grounded. She saw the remaining shooter, a young man with shaved black hair and lightly-tanned skin aiming for her. She quickly moved the black glyph from underneath her, blocking the medicine ball aimed at her. Weiss altered the glyph, turning it white and bouncing the medicine ball harmlessly into the water before readying herself for the next leap. Weiss was the first one to make it to the end of the room, a wide grin on her face as she saw Blake come up next.

"Not bad, bookworm. But maybe we should be sure that the real you actually made the jump." Weiss said, feeling a rush of confidence flow through her. Her smirked was caught off by Blake pinching her nose.

"Honk." Blake said bluntly, Weiss letting out a soft growl.

"Must you treat me like a child?" she asked.

"I was making sure your nose was real." Blake replied as more students gathered around them, watching the two as they were certain a fight was about to break out.

"I am getting sick of your attitude! What's your problem with me?" Weiss said.

"What's my problem with you? Shouldn't that be obvious? You're a spoiled little princess who thinks she can hang with the rest of us. If it weren't for your little magic circles, you'd be complaining about how you got your hair wet." Blake said, balling her fist slightly.

"Oh, and your illusions are fair game? You should've been out of here before we reached the platforms!" Weiss countered, the two stepping closer and closer. "Fight! Fight! Fight!" the students shouted, Cardin and his crew especially wanting to see this.

"Oooh, we got a catfight going on, boys!" Sky said with hungry eyes, Blake turning and glaring at him before returning her attention to Weiss.

"Look, Schnee, I don't have to be impressed by you! If you want people to praise your mediocrity, why not just go back to your mansion and be your daddy's shadow!" Blake said, glaring at Weiss with contempt. Weiss immediately slapped Blake across the face, Blake immediately catching her beret before turning back and reeling for a punch, her fist being caught before it made contact with Weiss' jaw.

"That is enough! From the both of you!" Port said, a tremble of anger in his voice. "We are here to fight monsters, not each other. Ms. Schnee, I expected better of someone from your family lineage! You should be more like your sister!" he admonished, Weiss shaking with anger but nodding, looking down at the floor. "And Ms. Belladonna… you understand the circumstances of your admission. I would hate to bring up an incident like this to Professor Ozpin again." Port said, Blake nodding with a scowl. "Now, since it has become a point of contention between you two, we're allowing an alteration to the rules for the next trial. All use of Semblance will result in immediate disqualification. And anyone who tries to pick fights will see themselves expelled! Am I understood?" the rotund professor asked with fire in his eyes. The students all nodded quickly, Cardin rolling his eyes and assuming a poor imitation of Port as the doors were opened to the next trial.

The room inside had a floor covered in soft landing mats, a table in the corner with their second medallion laid out for them to collect, placing it into the second slot. Looking ahead, they saw a series of metal rings wrapped in soft padding hanging from the ceiling by chains. "This trial will require you to jump and grab rings, swinging from ring to ring to reach the end. Second year students will also be on the course and their job will be to pull you off by kicking, grappling or just straight up tackling you until you drop. Those who hit the mat will win a free trip to the medical wing!" he said with a hearty chuckle, very few laughing at the joke beyond Nora. Weiss raised her hand.

"Professor Port… are initiates allowed to knock each other off?" she asked, glaring slightly at Blake.

"Hrm… I don't see why not, but do not pursue a student in attempt to give them a disadvantage. Remember to focus on reaching the end. There's a 20 minute time limit." He warned, Weiss nodding and bowing.

"Thank you, Professor." Weiss said as the timer was set, a large scoreboard on the wall lit up, revealing a massive "20" as the students leapt up, grabbing rings and taking off.

Weiss moved carefully, knowing she didn't have her glyphs to aid her in this trial. She swung along, watching Blake making her way across the room with relative ease. Weiss huffed in frustration, moving to catch up with Blake, making her first jump and dodging Velvet as she passed by.

"Sorry, Ms. Schnee!" Velvet called out, Weiss turning and swinging for the next ring. Weiss, jumped from ring to ring, going for Blake when Coco swung right at her.

"RAMMING SPEED!" she shouted, elbowing the Schnee heiress and nearly knocking her off. Weiss managed to hold on with one arm, focusing her sights on Blake. She swung closer and closer to Blake. who simply focused on making it to the end.

"Come on… come on..." Weiss muttered, getting two rings away before being struck by the copper-haired second year. "Anh! No!" she cried as she once again held on with one hand. This time she got hit a second time, losing her grip on her ring and beginning to fall when she felt someone grab her hand.

"Ah! Huh? Who…" Weiss said as she looked up to see Pyrrha.

"You're not going to be eliminated, not today." she said with a smile. "Now. I'm gonna swing you. On three, you catch the ring in front of you. 1...2...3!" Pyrrha said, tossing Weiss to the ring in front of her, which she quickly grabbed. Pyrrha jumped after her, watching Ren and Nora make their jumps, another initiate taking a chance and trying to knock Ren off as he was about to jump.

"REN! Rescue Hug!" Nora shouted, leaping offer her ring and tackling the initiate in mid-air, sending them both careening to the floor with a heavy thud of the pad. "My spleen!" The boy shouted from pain.

"Thanks, Nora!" Ren called back as he caught his ring. Ren soon caught up with Blake.

"Intense testing, huh?" Ren said, barely looking at Blake.

"Yeah. Uhh… Training." Blake replied, focusing on the other end of the room.

"...Soooo… Want to train together sometime?" Ren asked.

"Not really." She answered, Ren looking away from being somewhat embarrassed.

"Oh. Sorry, nevermind. See you on the other side of the.. room.. training… thing..." he said, realizing only then that Blake left him behind. They soon made it to the end, joined by Weiss and Pyrrha.

"...Thanks." Weiss told Pyrrha, out of obligation. doing her best not to look. Blake watched in disgust as Cardin and his cronies took some time to kick around Velvet before making their last swing. Velvet merely clung to her ring as Cardin got in one last hard shot to her back before jumping off.

"Heh. Nothin' like a little rabbit huntin', eh boys?" he said, getting high-fives from the others, Dove keeping his hands at his sides.

"Let's just focus on the next trial. You guys could've gotten eliminated by stalling like that." Dove replied, Sky putting on a mock-serious face in response and mimicking Dove's speech with his hand.

"Cardin, Dove's killing me here," said the buzzcut-wearing initiate.

"Not much I can do about it, Russell. The Bronzewing family swore fealty to my family years ago so I can't get rid of him or my parents will kill me. He's such a dork." Cardin said as Port opened the door in front of them.

"An impressive job so far as this next trial will be the halfway point. Only half of you will be advancing as the next trial shall pit you against one another. Claim your medallions and follow me." he said as the group fitted the third medallion onto their belt, heading into a room with four fixed beams elevated 20 feet off the ground and three feet in width. "As part of your registration into Beacon Academy, you all registered your weapons which we took the time to carefully reconstruct in rubber molds. You will take your weapon and climb onto a beam, four pairs of two to duel. If you fall off the beam and onto the crashmat, you will be eliminated. Take your weapons."

Pyrrha looked around, finding a spear and a xiphos marked with her name, grabbing them and climbing up. Ren had already made his way to the top of a beam. "No weapon, Ren?" Pyrrha asked, Ren shaking his head.

"My body is the weapon." he said, throwing off her tailcoat as he waited for his opponent. Weiss found her rapier, waiting for Blake to climb up and take her on, only for Blake to climb after Cardin.

"Grrr… I'll deal with you one day, bookworm." she said as she climbed the final beam, being greeted by Dove.

"A rematch from last year, Ms Schnee?" he said, politely bowing. Weiss sighed, twirling the handle of the rubber rapier in her hand before the bell sounded. Weiss and Dove clashed swords in the ring, pressing together a bit, sparks would have flied if both swords weren't made from synthetic rubber. Weiss pushed the blade away, spinning it and slashing and thrusting with the quickness, each strike being parried off as he shuffled back. Leaping onto one foot and launching a roundhouse kick at her, which she ducked backward before rolling into a handstand and landing on her feet just a couple of feet back.

"Ein." She shouted, slashing at his chest hard enough to make him stumble onto his back, she pushed the blade down, trying to push and roll him off the beam. Dove quickly grabbed her arm, pulling her down and throwing her over the ledge. Weiss grabbed onto his wrist, gripping tightly. "I fall and I'll take you with me!" Weiss shouted, Dove sighing and pulling her back up. "Zwei!" She said, pulling on his arm to tug him down low enough to bash him upside the head with her forearm. He gasped, stumbling back a bit and allowing Weiss to have enough time to get back on the platform.

Dove shouted, smashing his blade over his head and toward the ground, the shock of rubber running up his hands as he completely missed where Weiss used to be, before realizing when he was about to lift his blade that Weiss leapt atop his blade, balancing on it with ease. "Drei." She stated leaping off his shoulder and doing a graceful frontflip over his head, spinning backward and striking the side of his head with her rubber blade, sending him stumbling off the ledge and falling into the crash pad.

On the beam opposite them was Blake fighting Cardin. Blake had lost her weapon early on in the fight when Cardin had twisted her wrist, causing her to let go of her rubber sword and drop it onto the floor. He quickly tossed her onto the beam. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this. You're the bitch who threw the carrot at Russell. Filthy Faunus lovers like you always pissed me off. Don't you remember we were at war with them!? My uncle died as one of their prisoners." he said with a sneer, kicking her sharply in the side. Blake got up slowly and carefully.

"He probably killed a village full of innocents before they took him." Blake said between breaths, holding the side where Cardin had kicked her before running at him, using her free arm to land a couple of punches to the larger man's chest before going low for a sweeping kick, which he leaped over with a surprising amount of agility. She did a handspring backward, before digging down lower to lunge at him. He suddenly cut her off by smashing his shoulder into her chest before she could lunge at him, sending her stumbling onto her backside with no air in her lungs.

"G-gahck!" Blake sputtered out as she struggled to climb back up, Cardin reaching out a hand. "Take my hand, I want a fair finish to this fight." Cardin said with a unnecessarily toothy grin as Blake shakily grabbed a hold of him, the two working to pull her back onto the beam. "Gotcha!" he said before reeling back his arm, pulling her in and slamming his elbow right into her nose. The force of the elbow sent Blake into unconsciousness, her body going limp within seconds. Her nose began to bleed as Cardin kept a grip on her hand. "Thanks for flying Air Cardin. Hope you enjoy the souvenir." Cardin said with a cold grin as he let go, Blake falling down to the mat quickly, flopping onto the crashmat.

Weiss stared down, mouth agape. For her and others, it felt as if Blake had fallen for a minute, but she was on the mat within seconds. The whole room had stopped in shock, some covering their mouths, others running off to get to the medical wing. "Damn! Don't mess with Cardin, right?" Sky said, piercing through the uncomfortable silence of the crowd. Weiss immediately leaped down, landing on one knee before rushing over to Blake's unconscious body.

"Blake! BLAKE!" she shouted, gently lifting Blake's head and seeing a faint motion from her chest. "She's breathing…" Weiss said, hyperventilating feeling the a tingling at the nape of her neck. "I just… I just wanted you to lose… but not like this…" she said, tears welling up in her eyes. She gently set Blake's head down, standing up.

"Weiss, I… I don't know what to say." Dove said, putting a hand on her shoulder only to have her shove him away.

"You're friends with someone like that?! You should be ashamed of yourself!" she shouted, storming off and leaving Dove standing there, hand frozen in place. Weiss passed by the medical team carrying a stretcher, stopping as they went to load Blake on.

Weiss wiped her eyes on her tracksuit sleeve, waiting in the ring room while the medical team carried Blake out before following after them.


	13. The Entrance Exam, Part 4

Blake slowly stirred awake, her eyes opening and adjusting to the light. As her vision became less blurry, she looked around to find herself in a small white room illuminated by the mid-afternoon sun. As she was about to sit up, an older man in a white coat with slicked white hair and matching beard entered the room. "Ah, Ms. Belladonna. You're finally awake. Gave us all quite a startle when you were brought in. Most people who come here from the exam are usually students with some bruises or a mild dislocation. Mind you, Ms. Xiao-Long was probably worse when she came in," he said with a calm smile. "But a broken nose and a minor concussion is a bit rare with the entrance exams. You're very lucky that the injury wasn't as serious. That may not happen the next time." the doctor said, Blake reaching up to her nose to feel heavy tape around it. She heard a voice outside the room, a familiar shrill tone hitting her ears.

"Please, I need to speak with her! She's had to have gotten enough rest!" the voice called, Blake blinking a bit in surprise. The doctor chuckled a bit.

"Ms. Schnee has been hounding the medical staff since you were admitted. She insisted on being by your side throughout the procedure. Even tried to bribe the nurses. But it's up to you, should I let her in?" he asked. Blake put up a hand.

"Gimme a moment while the room stops spinning." she said, her voice rendered nasally by the gauze taped to her face and tissues stuffed into her nostrils.

"Ah, the anesthetic hasn't worn off yet, huh? I'll let your guest in after a few minutes." he said, leaving the room. Blake could hear him and Weiss talking outside the door, the door opening and Weiss stepping in with a tray of food and a small black leather bound book with a matching black sleeve. In the center of the sleeve was a white queen chess piece.

"I brought you some food from the dining hall. The rest of the initiates finished their matches and Port called for lunch." she said as she set the tray down, finding a seat next to Blake.

"...Man, you know all my favorite foods, like book…" Blake said, Weiss barely looking her in the eye.

"I'll assume that was the anesthetic talking and accept your gratitude." Weiss replied, grabbing a knife to cut the steak on the bedridden Blake's plate.

"I can cut my steak just fine, Weiss. While seeing you have to do servant's work is amusing, my arms aren't broken." Blake said, Weiss letting out a sigh.

"Even when I'm helping you, you're complaining about me. Can you give it a rest, please?" Weiss asked, Blake's eyes widening a bit. Weiss didn't raise her voice a bit during that, the usual shriek replaced with a soft cadence.

"...Okay. Just don't expect me to want to be fed like a toddler." Blake said, a small twitch appearing from the corner of Weiss' mouth.

"I'm helping you, not coddling you." the Schnee heiress replied as she finished cutting, Blake grabbing her fork and taking a bite. She ate in silence as Weiss wasn't sure of what to say, Blake breaking the silence when she noticed the book on the tray.

"Is that the new _Kings & Pawns_?" Blake asked, Weiss nodding.

"Yes, _Kings & Pawns: Liberation_. Ruby had suggested that I buy you it as a get well present," Weiss answered, her lips curling up in a smile. "She also wanted me to buy her a copy. I told her that she'd need to break her nose if she wanted one. She reneged after that."

Blake stifled a small laugh. "I'm trying to eat," she said, swallowing the piece of meat in her mouth. "But the new book is nice. I actually finished _Reckoning_ the day before the exam. It'll be great to get cracking on the next one… thanks, Weiss." she said, hesitant to express gratitude to Weiss. It was almost alien to her and she became rather curious. "So… why are being so nice all of a sudden? I thought you'd be overjoyed to know I ended up in the hospital." Blake said, Weiss looking down.

"...You know, you've taken pride in mocking my heritage, but being a Schnee isn't easy. To be a Schnee is to be perfect, so I've been working hard for over a year to be the best… and seeing Ruby outrank me in the written test and your fight against Chance before mine…" Weiss said, taking in a deep breath, Blake spotting a small stream of tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

"I was being outclassed by… middle-class citizens," Weiss said, trying not to offend Blake. "So I tried harder, but every time I felt like I had succeeded, you'd be there to cut me down again. I wanted to beat you and if not that then see you beaten… but..." Weiss continued, putting a hand over her mouth. "But what Cardin did to you... seeing your body hit the floor like that… made me forget all of my anger towards you… I-I'm sorry Blake." Weiss said, wiping her eyes. Blake couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Weiss… don't you have to get back to the exam?" she asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Oh, right… I'm not participating in the exam. I can't bring myself to do it after seeing Cardin brutalize you." Weiss admitted, eyes bloodshot as she turned away from Blake.

"No." Blake said bluntly, grabbing Weiss' shoulder and turning her around so they were face-to-face. "You will not quit when you're this close. If you back out now, I will never let you live it down. We have nine months in this school and if you back out of this exam, Weiss Schnee, I will make sure that every day of each month is a living hell for you. Do you understand me?!" Blake shouted, her nasally voice barely affecting the fire in her words. Weiss smiled, standing up.

"I understand. Thank you, Blake. You'd better be out of that bed soon. When you step out, I'll be standing there with a full belt and wanting a match.." she said, leaving the medical wing, Blake chuckling a bit.

"Maybe you'll be able to beat someone on even ground." was what she said as Weiss shut the door.

Weiss made it back to the dining hall, seeing the initiates finishing off their lunch. Cardin, feeling like he had already completed the trial, walked over to Pyrrha, slamming his hand down to get her attention. "So, Pyrrha. What about you and me skip this little trial since you've already cinched it… and go out for some dinner? Just you n' me." he said with a mildly smug grin, slicking his hair back. Pyrrha blinked, standing up.

"While the vote of confidence is appreciated, I think I'll pass. On top of the fact I usually have dinner on my own, well… your reputation precedes you." Pyrrha said, walking off and leaving Cardin there, still grinning with a slight twitch in his eye.

"Oooh, she ditched you like I ditch the bill at lunch." Sky said, Cardin scowling.

"...Shut up, Sky. I ain't gonna let her talk down to me like that. Doesn't she know who I am? I'm Cardin Winchester!" he shouted, furious at not getting his way.

The initiates made it to the next room, four medallions notched in their belts as they saw a massive rock wall. "The next trial shall be the Wall. This wall stands at fifty feet and will lead to the final trial. Understand that you will not get a second chance if you fall. You will be eliminated if you hit the floor. There is a three minute time limit. No one cares if you can climb a wall if you're slow. Now climb!" Professor Port said bluntly, the initiates climbing up. The first ten feet were easy but as they got higher, many struggled to keep themselves going, some falling to the mat before they hit 20. Not helped by the Wall bending more and more towards them as the got higher. Russell carefully worked on positioning himself just behind Pyrrha. He reached into his boot, pulling out a dagger and readying it carefully against Pyrrha's boot. he dug in deep, Pyrrha quickly feeling the sharp metal touch her heel. "Ah! What's-" she said before Russell quickly sliced her heel. The dagger jerked out of his hand with a sudden force, hitting Russell in the shoulder and sending him crashing onto the floor.

Professor Port rushed the field, Pyrrha struggling to fight through the cut but slipping and falling herself, hitting the mat shoulder-first. "What is going on here?" Port asked as Pyrrha knelt, keeping herself on her still-working foot.

"Professor, I was climbing the wall when Russell cut my foot with a knife." Pyrrha explained, wincing a bit.

"She stabbed me! I was just defending myself!" Russell retorted and pointing to the dagger in his shoulder, which Port grabbed and pulled straight out.

"Boy, I've taken worse stabs to the chest and ripped those suckers out without being a crybaby like you!" Port said as the medical staff walked over to help the two. "You will both be questioned on the incident after you've been treated of your injuries. And as for the rest of you, keep climbing! Hesitance on the battlefield will only get you turned into a free meal for an Ursa!" he shouted, the rest of the students climbing.

Of them, only ten made it to the top, including Weiss and Ren. Down below, the remaining students watched on the big screen, barring Blake, Pyrrha and Russell who were being treated in the medical wing but were given portable televisions to watch the event on. "And so it has come to this. 10 students still standing and only one shall receive my unique opportunity. I present to you all… the Pyramid!" Port said as he waved his hand to a massive padded pyramid. "You will all climb this pyramid, but only one will reach the top and hit the switch, revealing the final medallion." he explained, the students looking in awe.

"Shame your idol didn't get to climb the Pyrrha-mid, huh Ruby?" Yang joked, her sister's groan was loud enough to be heard from where the students and Port were standing.

"If you hit the bottom of the pyramid after climbing, you will be eliminated. Now, begin!" Port shouted, the ten students making the climb. Many attempted to team up on Ren, only for him to turn and sweep their legs, sending three of them tumbling down to the bottom of the Pyramid. Weiss dodged an attacking student, lightly slamming them into the pyramid steps and advancing further. Weiss and Ren made their way to the top, kicking away the remaining students before turning and facing each other.

Ren slid down into a low pose, looking down the pyramid to see if any students were climbing, but they were either fighting amongst themselves or already eliminated. He glanced back to Weiss, only to find the white clad girl completely gone from his vision. He felt a sudden wind shift his hair. Realizing quickly just where she was, and ducking instinctively to avoid a roundhouse kick. He reached up to grip her leg, tossing her entire body over his shoulder to attempt and slam her on the ground. She landed on her hands, using her free leg to kick him in the chest and force him to stumble back. For a bit of flair, she held the handstand for a second before rolling back onto her feet.

He slid his hands together, taking a sharp breath to calm himself down, as he launched himself at her, pulling his fist into a tight ball and landing just an inch from her chest. "Tiger style." He said, opening his palm and smacking her with a one inch palm strike, sending her sliding back several feet. Weiss held her hips, gasping in pain in sheer awe from how hard such a short ranged punch could hit. Was it the power of aura? It must've been. She decided to face him head on, hands striking to his face before he blocked it with the inside of his forearms as it became a battle of hand to hand chest. Weiss attempting to strike from any angle she could hit, but Ren continued to skillfully block until he suddenly lurched back onto one leg, using his entire body weight to launch a punch to the stomach. She responded by kicking his fist upward to make it swiftly miss her chest, stomach and face. During his stagger, Weiss ducked behind him, grabbing a lifted up arm and sweeping his leg to make his back land right on her knee. He didn't even spend the time to groan in pain, using her knee as a pendulum and swinging a firm kick at her head while rolling back onto his feet. She groaned, gripping her head as he took another step back, throwing some shadow punches and standing in a wide stance. "Cobra style." He curled both hands into two biting snakes with his fingers, before running at her to to continue the assault, landing precise pressure point strikes to keep her stumbling back until she nearly fell over the edge of the pyramid they were on. "Go home." He said, pulling back one last strike to try and send her careening off the edge of the pyramid.

"No! To hell with you!"

Weiss grabbed his punch, nearly breaking her fingers from how sudden the stop of his punch felt, but she responded by doing the least graceful move you could ever imagine. She smashed her forehead into his for a head ringing headbutt. Ren gasped for air, realizing that his head was ringing and his balance was completely off. Weiss wasn't much better, she got a cut on her forehead and it sounded like she was inside a church bell. "DAMN IT BLAKE, THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" She shouted as she leapt onto Ren, launching a knee into his chest and sending him smashing into the ground. She rolled off, kicking him into the shoulder and back as he got up, sending him down another level of the pyramid. She slowly backed up as Ren tried to get back onto his feet, making a running start at the very edge of the structure and launching a tackle so hard they both fell down nearly to the bottom of the entire thing. Weiss rubbed the sore shoulder she had from just smashing into a guy bigger than she was, but she didn't care. She turned around, making a mad dash for the top of the pyramid before he could recover.

The crowd watching was riotous, some cheering for Weiss to make it back up while others wanted Ren to get back up, Nora waving a massive dark green flag with "GO REN!" in giant red letters. "Climb the pyramid, Ren! Become a legend!" Nora shouted, scaring the students around her. Blake slowly got up from her bed, shutting off the TV as she stumbled out of the room, wanting to see it in person. Weiss struggled, realizing that she might have knocked something loose in her head from that headbutt, she stumbled up each step, nearly falling over some of them as she panted and gasped. "Why did this pyramid get so huge!?" She complained, not realizing she was running about half as fast as she did before she started. She suddenly heard footsteps not only matching her speed, but beating her as Ren managed to get back to his feet, using leaps and bounds to try and get ahead of her. He turned on his heel, leaping up and reeling back his fist to launch a strike at her face. "GO TO HELL!" She shouted, leaping off the ground in all of her might, throwing the opposite hand to try and punch him faster than he could punch her. The fists connected, but Ren's descending strike hit harder than Weiss' desperate strike, smashing her upside the head and sending her tumbling down the entire padded pyramid before softly landing on the floor in a heap. Ren gasped for air, softly wiping the blood off the fresh cut on his lip before running to the top of the platform, and smacking the red button in his palm. "Not today."

A section of the pyramid opened, lifting a small glass box containing the final medallion, which he fitted into the belt and raised it into the air, a loud buzzer sounding and the crowd exploding in cheers, throwing green streamers into the air, supplied by Nora. As Port went to congratulate Ren, Weiss sat at the bottom of the pyramid, rubbing her shoulder and looking down. "I...I lost…" she said, her voice shaking a bit. "Blake… I'm sorry…" she said before feeling a hand on her shoulder.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" a familiar, if nasally voice said. Weiss looked up, seeing Blake, smiling in spite of her bandaged nose.

"B-Blake? I lost… I was so close and it just slipped out of my hands. I'm a failure. I don't deserve to call myself a Schnee!" Weiss said, tears forming in her eyes. Blake took her hand off Weiss' shoulder, lifted it up and slapped Weiss across the face.

"You don't have to be a Schnee if you don't want to be one, you don't need to impress anyone except for yourself, just be happy you got this far. You got farther than me, farther than Ruby, farther than Pyrrha! Farther than a champion-level athlete!" Blake said, Weiss looking up.

"But Pyrrha got cheated out of her spot." Weiss objected.

"And that means you wouldn't have made it up that wall? I don't think so! And you put on an amazing fight against Ren. If you keep doubting yourself after a fight like that, you'd best walk out the door and take the next flight back home because Beacon isn't for quitters!" Blake said, Weiss slowly breaking into a smile and standing up.

"Y-you're right… Thank you, Blake. I needed that." Weiss said, rubbing her cheek a bit.

"You're welcome. Now let's get you to a shower, you look like you fell through trees." Blake said, the two walking off.

"Congratulations to all those who participated. You all fought hard and have proven yourselves worthy of being Beacon. As a reward, you all receive a special treat, starting with those eliminated in the first trial who shall get free ice cream!" Professor Port declared, Ruby's eyes lighting up.

"Free ice cream!" Ruby shouted, leaping off her seat in the bleachers,, much to Yang's displeasure.

"Ruby! Be careful! You could hit someone!" Yang shouted, chasing after her little sister.

"I'm gonna get chocolate! And cookie dough! And mint chip! And-" Ruby cried out before crashing into Jaune.

"Ack! Ruby! You could've killed me!" Jaune said, Ruby simply scrambling over him.

"C'mon, Jaune! It's ICE CREAM TIME!" Ruby called out, Jaune grumbling about his spine hurting as he got up to follow her.


	14. Welcome to Beacon

"Come on, Weiss. By the time you finish showering Ruby will eat half the ice cream." Blake said, reading the first few pages of _Kings & Pawns: Liberation_ as she leaned against the wall beside the shower door.

"I'm almost done in here. Besides, there'll still be plenty of dessert left even if Ruby devours her entire weight in ice cream." Weiss retorted, shutting off the faucet. Blake heard the door open as water dripped onto the floor. "I'll meet you down there when I'm dressed. Save me some apple pie." Weiss said, Blake rolling her eyes a bit.

"Sure. Just don't eat all the-" Blake said before being caught off guard by what she saw on Weiss' exposed back. Two pairs of three healed over scars going diagonally across the back, starting at the shoulder blades, shaped like animal claws. Blake seized up, eyes wide as she let out a small gasp, Weiss turning to look at her.

"What's the matter, Blake? Cat got your tongue?" Weiss asked, sending Blake out of her stupor.

"N-no. It's fine. We'd better get moving." Blake replied, running down the hall.

"I still have to get dressed!" Weiss called out before heading to her bag, opening it up and pulling out a clean white t-shirt and black jeans to wear, since she was going to need something that could was a bit easier.

She quickly got her boots on, heading to the dining hall where she could see Ruby with a bowl of ice cream which looked to have one scoop from each box. She was shoveling big bites into her mouth while Jaune was eating a simple vanilla ice cream sandwich. "Ruby, maybe you should consider something a little less… not humanly feasible." Jaune said with a bit of revulsion.

"No! It's like a delicious soup of deliciousness!" Ruby said, taking another bite into her melting mix of ice cream. Weiss rolled her eyes, heading to the table where the desserts were set out, separated by where you placed in the entrance exam. First trial eliminations received ice cream, though there was now a one-scoop limit thanks to Ruby's mountainous sundae. Second trial eliminations got several cups of pudding, Yang bitterly eating tapioca as the chocolate was wiped clean. Third trial eliminations were supposed to get milkshakes, but that went to the first trial eliminations after the drought brought on by Ruby.

None of this seemed to faze Nora, who had two cartons of milk in her hands, pouring it straight down into her mouth and all over her face, Weiss grimacing in disgust. "Who pours drinks all over themselves like that?" she asked as she looked over what the fourth trial eliminations got. Rows of various pies, Blake eating an apple pie with a huge smile on her face. Fifth trial eliminations were actually allowed to choose their meals, which Pyrrha had taken advantage of, enjoying a smoked ham dinner. Final trial eliminations were greeted by chocolate mousse divided into squares, Weiss grabbing a square and looking around for someone to sit with. Weiss choice was made for when she realized that Nora had all the milk and one simply could not have chocolate without milk. She made her way to the third trial table, sitting across from Nora. "Hey, Weiss! Great match!" Nora said with her usual enthusiasm.

"Thank you… Nora, was it? Do you mind if I have some milk? It'd be a crime to eat this mousse without a bit of milk." Weiss asked, Nora slamming down a stein of cold milk for her.

"Drink up, milk buddy!" Nora said, Weiss taking the stein with an awkward smile. Weiss would've normally not spoke to Nora, but she wanted some milk and she was too tired to make demands.

As Weiss ate, she had to shield herself from Nora's atrocious table manners, as she was open-mouth chugging more milk. How someone like Ren could stand to be around Nora was a mystery to Weiss. "So.. Nora, how did you and Ren meet?" Weiss asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Oh, that old story? Well, it started back in the Mistral Regional Tournament. We had reached the second round and Ren had quite the record, beating his first round opponent in less than a minute! Of course, a Valkyrie's made of tougher stuff than that! So when the match started I just went right at him and headbutted him!" Nora said excitedly, headbutting the table for emphasis. Weiss winced a bit, partly from Nora headbutting the table and from having headbutted Ren herself during their own fight.

"Didn't that hurt?" she asked, Nora shaking her head.

"Nope! Like I said, a Valkyrie's made of tougher stuff! So when he fought that off, we just went right at it. No holds barred, no technique! Just punches! Kicks! Big suplexes! I threw him around the arena like a dart!" Nora said, grabbing a stein of milk The stein nearly hit Weiss in the head, a hand catching it at the last second.

"Telling Weiss about our first match?" Ren asked as he sat down, a small twinkle of light in his otherwise cold, dead eyes. Weiss shivered at the sight of him, he looked like he had pulled his way out of the afterlife. Hs skin was porcelain white, his hair a disheveled mess and his eyes seemed to have sunk in as he took a shaking seat next to Nora.

"Mhm! We fought for the whole hour before the time limit! I figured at some point I'd snap him like a twig, but you don't break Lie Ren when he's in his zone!" Nora said, Ren quietly sipping milk, the only noticeable sound from him was his breathing.

"An hour? You fought for an entire hour? Wouldn't the crowd get restless?" Weiss asked, Ren finally speaking up.

"No. While combat events in Vale are built on theatrics and spectacle, Mistral tends to respect the athleticism and the concept of 'Warrior's Spirit' or the drive to fight even when your body can barely hold itself together," Ren explained in an eerie monotone, emotion fully drained from his voice. "So going an hour was an impressive feat, though my father was furious about me winning on points…. But I didn't care. It was the first time I truly remember enjoying a fight. I spent more time focused on winning and it felt hollow, like I was doing a boring job. Nora helped fill a void for me." Ren said, a note of joy in his dead voice, Nora quickly tucking his head under her arm.

"And we've been an unstoppable team ever since!" Nora said, Weiss taking it all in before deciding to change the subject.

"So… Ren, how as Professor Port's opportunity? Did he give you special weapon? Some rare Dust? Offers of advanced lessons?" she asked, her curiosity outweighing her fear of what Port did to make Ren so emotionally drained.

"...He sat me in a room with a vanilla cake with light vanilla frosting. We sat and ate while he told me his old hunting stories. He ate most of the cake." Ren said, Weiss' right eye twitching slightly.

"You mean to tell me that we ran for several miles, got shot at with medicine balls, got concussions and broken noses, climbed rock walls, jumped rings and platforms and fought on that pyramid so Port could BORE one of us with his stories?! Mrrrrrrrh! Of all of the wastes of time I've ever dealt with in my life, this is probably the worst waste of time I've been in! I shed blood, sweat and tears to potentially listen to some old fart ramble at me for half an hour! I can't believe Ozpin would hire such and incompetent, senile-" Weiss' raving was cut off by the food on the tables being surrounded by a violet energy, lifting them off. Ruby tried desperately to hold onto her bowl of ice cream, which was only half-eaten.

"No! No! My delicious dairy product! My pride and joy! The only thing in life that I've loved!" She said as it slipped from her hands, making her land back first on the table. "Hey!" Yang shouted in offense. Glynda Goodwitch soon stepped into the room, using her wand to carry out the dishes before clearing her throat.

"I hope you've all enjoyed your little treat. And thank you all for your participation in the Beacon entrance exam. You have all proven yourself to be capable to be fashioned into skilled Hunters, but remember that the door is always open not just to come in, but to step out. If you feel your body cannot take the pressure of being a Hunter, you may choose to leave now." she offered, all of the students staying in their seats. "Brave souls, all of you. Now, the next order of business is simple. You will all be given a package. Inside this package will be your school uniform, a copy of the school curriculum and your room number. The first years will be placed in rooms made to fit 24, though you will be using cots rather than beds until the end of the year when your team is formed. Rooms will be gender-specific to prevent any sort of… frivolous activity," Glynda said with a slight cough, eliciting laughter and small talk among the students. "And if any of you think you'll pass by on a simple invitation, there are cameras hidden in the rooms so keep in mind that while you're planning on sharing a cot with someone, Professor Ozpin will be watching you. Think about that." she said with a knowing smile, sending a chill down several students' spines.

"Classes will take place between 7 A.M. to 1 P.M. with the remaining time being dedicated to extracurricular activities and meals. I'd recommended you not expect huge banquets like what you got on the first day. There is a 10 P.M curfew and students are allowed off school ground after classes as long they have another student with them to keep an eye on them. As for uniforms, you will be given the standard school colors of black, cobalt blue and crimson red. By default you are given a one-piece dress suit, tie, tuxedo jacket, white dress shirt, black dress pants and optional skirt. Your outfit for combat are also customizable as long as you keep the Beacon Academy crest visible at all times. And please try to keep torso exposure to a minimum. With that in mind, have a good night to all." Glynda said, walking off as everyone opened up their packages, some looking over the outfits, others reading through the classes and extracurricular activities and a third group looking for their room numbers.

As Ruby looked for her number, she heard the sound of cloth tearing, looking up to see Yang tearing the sleeves of her dress shirt. "Perfect! Whaddaya think, Ruby?" she asked, Ruby blinking.

"I… don't think that's very practical with autumn coming up soon." Ruby said, Yang shrugging a bit.

"Eh, I think I can handle getting the cold shoulder!" her sister replied, Ruby burying herself in her box, a muffled cry of distress emanating from the cardboard.

"I hate you, Yang!" she said through her new uniform, Yang grabbing the rest of her supplies and heading for her room, giving Ruby a hard slap on the back. 

"Love you too, sis!" Yang replied as she left the dining hall. Soon, students were dispersing, heading for the dormitory with numbers fresh in their minds, some repeating it under their breath to keep from forgetting it. "Room 106, Locker 636. Room 106, Locker 636." Jaune muttered, somewhat in a trance as he carried his stuff to the room.

His walk was cut off when he suddenly tripped, stumbling onto the floor and dropping his box and landing face first. "Anh… what the?" Jaune asked, looking to his legs when he felt someone grip the hood of his jacket, pulling him up. He was soon face-to-face with Cardin, who was flanked by Russell and Sky.

"Hey now, Jaune. You gotta be more careful around the halls, buddy. Don't want to be tripping over your own shoes, right?" Cardin said with a smirk, gently dusting Jaune off a bit before ramming a knee into his gut, sending Jaune to his knees, doubled over in pain.

"That one was for you being an Arc. The fact that a bumpkin like you got into Beacon makes me sick. This place is for real men. Got it?" Cardin asked, Jaune looking up weakly.

"Then how… did you… get in?" Jaune said between pitched breaths, receiving a kick to his side from Sky for his troubles.

"You better watch your mouth. We're in Room 106, so we'll be ruling the roost here, Jaune Boy. You step out of line and we'll be there to-" Cardin said, stopping as Ren walked up to the scene.

"Is there a problem here?" he asked, carrying a small piece of paper with "106" marked on it. The three punks backed away slowly, remembering the fight he had with Weiss and not wanting to fight him.

"...Just showing Jaune to the room. We'd better get to bed. Night, Jaune." Cardin said, walking away with Russell and Sky. Ren helped Jaune to his feet.

"You alright, Jaune?" Ren asked, Jaune smiling.

"Ren, that was awesome! Bump it!" Jaune said, presenting his fist to Ren, who simply stared at it and grabbed the fist, shaking it.

"Like so?" he asked, Jaune's arm dropping back to his side.

"...Nevermind." Jaune said, walking off to their room, Ren following behind him. Nora followed after them with intent to follow Ren, only to be caught by Pyrrha, who grabbed her arm and starting dragging her away.

"Sorry, Nora. You know the rules, We can't be going into the boys' dorm, much as you may find yourself at home with them." Pyrrha said, Nora struggling and calling out for Ren.

"Noooooo! Ren! Lemme go, Pyrrha! He won't survive without me around!" Nora objected, Pyrrha chuckling a bit.

"I think Ren can take care of himself. Besides, he has Jaune to keep him company. How bad could it get?" she asked, gripping tighter on Nora's wrist and pulling harder as they made it to Room 112. Stepping inside they found Ruby reading up on the class courses before she looked over and saw Pyrrha, excitedly running over to her.

"Aaaaaaaah! I get to share a room with Pyrrha!" Ruby said giddily, Pyrrha smiling a weak smile.

"Good evening to you too, Ruby. Do you mind if Nora and I get our stuff set up?" she asked, Ruby nodding rapidly and stepping aside, Pyrrha walking with a slight limp on her still-healing foot. Nora had finally stopped resisting and grabbed her stuff, Ruby following them like a puppy that smelled a fresh bowl of food.

"So, what extracurricular activities are you gonna take?" Ruby asked, Pyrrha rubbing her chin in thought.

"Well, I was thinking of joining the Wrestling Club when my heel finally healed." she replied, Ruby quickly grabbing her pamphlet and checking off "Wrestling Club" with a smile and a nod.

"What else?" Ruby asked, Pyrrha blinking a bit.

"Well… there was also Dueling Club." Once again Ruby checked off "Dueling Club." Pyrrha caught on to Ruby checking off the same clubs as her. "Oh! And Advanced Cooking. I really want to try my hand at that." Pyrrha said, trying to hold back a smile as Ruby looked, seeing that the list only had "Advanced Cooking" on there.

"Wait… only advanced? Where's Beginner's Cooking?" Ruby asked, Pyrrha shrugging her shoulders in response.

"Don't know, there's only Advanced listed. But you can handle Advanced, right Ruby?" Pyrrha asked, Ruby taking in a deep breath and checking it off.

"I will be the best at Advanced Cooking!" she said with her explosive enthusiasm, Pyrrha chuckling and turning to Nora.

"How about you, Nora? Anything you plan on taking?" she asked, Nora shrugging.

"Well, I was thinking of taking all the same courses as Ren." Nora admitted, Pyrrha tilting her head quizzically.

"Really? You don't have any hobbies?" Pyrrha asked, Nora rubbing the back of her head a bit with a soft chuckle.

"You can't just copy what someone else is doing, Nora. You have to have interests of your own." Ruby said, oblivious to the silent glare that Pyrrha was giving her.

"Look who's talking…" Weiss said, checking boxes on her pamphlet.

"Hrmph! And what are you doing, princess?" Ruby asked, sticking her tongue out at Weiss.

"Well, I'm going to be taking violin and Chess Club. I don't think you'd be able to handle Chess Club. It requires thinking, after all." Weiss replied with a smirk.

"Grrrr! I'll show you! I'm awesome at chess! You big... Jerkface!" Ruby said, turning away and storming off, checking "Chess Club" off on her pamphlet. She stopped when she spotted Blake, nose buried in her copy of _Kings & Pawns: Liberation_. She slowly breathed through her mouth, not able to use her nose.

"How about you, Blake? What are you doing for extracurricular?" Ruby asked, Blake barely looking up.

"...Being alone club. I don't really see the point of activities outside of training." Blake replied, her voice still sounding nasally.

"C'mon, you gotta have something…" Ruby prodded, Blake rolling her eyes.

"Okay, I was looking to do History, Applied Sciences, and.. well.. Book Club." she answered, Ruby checking off "Book Club" while Yang, sitting on her cot, feigned snoring.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just so bored by that list of activities I fell asleep." she said, Blake looking up from her book.

"Then what do you have, Yang? I'm sure it's very exciting…" she said dryly, Yang punching the air in front of them.

"Boxing Club! No better sport around!" Yang replied with enthusiastic energy.

"Oh good, the barbaric sport of punching people a lot. Why am I not surprised?" Blake said as Yang bent down to meet eye-level with her.

"You wanna join so you can eat those words, Blakey?" Yang asked, tightening up one of her fists.

"No." Blake flatly replied, even if she didn't need to. Ruby walked off, not wanting to get involved in another one of Yang's verbal spars with Blake. She made it to her cot, getting under the covers without a book to read, pulling Lil' Pyrrha out of her bag.

"I don't think I've made any friends yet in Beacon outside of Blake. And Jaune... I guess. It's so different from Signal. But I'll always have you, stuffed version of Pyrrha." Ruby said to the inanimate plush, who simply sat on Ruby's pillow, staring with dead, beady eyes.


	15. First Lesson

Ruby walked through the halls of the school, making a stop by her locker. She typed in the password of her electronic lock, hearing a digitized chirping sound, signaling that the password was accepted. Ruby placed the books she wouldn't be needing into the locker, adjusting her backpack. She stopped as she saw an empty envelope, remembering that she had promised her dad that she would write to him. She quickly grabbed the envelope, a pen and a sheet of paper, sitting down by her locker.

 _Hey Dad,_

 _How are things back at Patch? How are you and Uncle Crowe? Is Zwei doing alright? I really miss you guys. Vale's so big I think it could hold like, five Patches. The view's amazing, but I'm not used to so many cars. But being at Beacon is so AMAZING! I can't believe I'm really here at Beacon! You, mom, Uncle Crowe, Auntie Raven, and now me and Yang! I'm so excited that I woke up an hour early and just couldn't keep still!_

 _I was jumping up and down on my cot until I woke up Weiss and she started yelling, and that woke everyone else up and soon everyone was yelling and I kept apologizing but there was SO MUCH YELLING! I had to run out of there before anyone else woke up. But anyway, maybe I should tell you about all the people I've met here during may stay so far. First there's Weiss Schnee. She's from the Schnee family, who I think make Dust. She's rich, mean, and doesn't like me at any capacity. I'm trying to be nice to her in the hopes that she'll stop being such a jerk to me, but I don't think it's working._

 _Then there's Blake. Blake is cool. She's quiet, mysterious and she likes books! I finally have someone I can read with! Now I just need to get a copy of_ Kings & Pawns: Liberation _before she reads the whole thing. It's not fair, Weiss bought one for Blake but she said she won't buy one for me! I was the one who told her to get Blake the book after Blake got her face smashed in, she owes me a solid! Why does Renewal have to so far away? I want to get_ Liberation _for a Renewal gift Or at least some money so I can buy it myself!_

 _Oh yeah, Blake got her nose broken during the entrance exam. Don't worry, it wasn't Yang. She just broke someone's jaw. And lost a tooth. And threw someone through a window. And burned down a building. You know, typical Yang stuff. But anyway, it was this guy Cardin who did it. Jaune says he's a bully. Says that Cardin was pushing him around during the exam. Can you believe that people like him can get into Beacon?_

 _Oh yeah, I should probably talk about Jaune. He's from Patch too, so it's great to have someone who I can talk to about home around here. He's a pretty nice guy, though I think he can lose a fistfight against a pillow…. or a corgi… or a corgi pillow. He's got seven sisters! SEVEN! I feel bad for him, I thought having one sister was bad enough. I can't imagine seven Yangs making terrible puns all day. But Jaune's nice, maybe Pyrrha can make him tougher than a corgi pillow._

 _Oh! Oh! I ALMOST FORGOT! PYRRHA NIKOS IS AT BEACON OH MY GOD I WANNA HUG HER UNTIL SHE EXPLODED EXCEPT SHE'S SO TOUGH SHE CAN'T EXPLODE AND I MIGHT EXPLODE FROM THE SHEER JOY! YEEEE! You know how much I like Pyrrha, I watched every tournament with you and Yang though Yang just wanted an excuse to make popcorn. I got her to sign Lil' Pyrrha! I'm so shocked I've managed to keep Lil' Pyrrha for so long after you got me the plush, I had to get it repaired a lot... from hugging... and Zwei eating it. But this is so great! I can learn how to be a Huntress alongside my idol! SCHOOL IS AWESOME! (But not the regular school)_

 _...Anyway, finally there's Nora and Ren. Nora's fun but she seems a bit obsessed with Ren. She follows him around like a puppy. A loud puppy with a giant hammer. She also eats like Zwei on steak night and yet I'm the weirdo because Yang shoved a potato in my mouth. But I can't imagine someone being so obsessed with one person. It's not healthy, you know. Ren's really cool. He won the whole entrance exam and got to have a cake! I bet it was the cake Yang wouldn't let me have on our first day here! Why does everyone else get cake? But enough about my lack of cake. Ren's a really good fighter and he and Weiss had an amazing fight, but he seems kind of quiet and reserved, so it's really weird that he only hangs out with Nora. But hey, maybe staying in a boys-only room will help him talk with other people._

 _So that's my first day as a student at Beacon. I'd better finish of this letter before the est of the students wake up. I'll write to you at the end of the month to let you know how things are going with classes. Say hi to Uncle Crowe and Zwei for me._

 _-Ruby._

Ruby folded up the letter, putting it in the enveloping and stuffing it into her bag when something suddenly hit her. "Wait… did I write 'Yeeee' in my letter to dad?" she asked herself aloud, quickly pulling out the letter and trying to scribble it out as the sound of a whistle echoed through the halls.

"Rise and shine, future Hunters! I want all of you in the dining hall by 6:30!" Glynda shouted as students groaned and grumbled.

"I was having a good dream too… I was dreaming of bagels..."

"Five more minutes..."

"No, I don't want to become a tiger..." came the murmur of students as they shuffled out, Ruby running to get herself out of her pajamas, nearly running into Jaune.

"Hey Jaune! See you at breakfast!" she called as she passed him by Jaune, startling him and causing him to trip and fall onto his back.

"Ow… not a good start to today," he grumbled as he got up, dusting off his pants which were the only thing of his uniform that was actually secure. His red tie was loosely wrapped around his neck, his black jacket was unbuttoned and his sneakers were coming loose before him. He saw Cardin and his crew pointing and laughing at him, turning away and walking toward the dining hall, catching up with Ren, who was pressing himself against the lockers. "Morning, Ren. What's up?" Jaune asked, Ren looking up at the ceiling. "Don't answer, I didn't mean literally." Jaune said, Ren looking forward once more. "So… what's our first class?" he asked, Ruby soon catching up with the regular Huntress uniform with the alterations of a crimson skirt and her hood clasped onto the jacket.

"You really didn't look at the schedule yet, Jaune?" she asked, startling Jaune.

"Ah! Ruby! Don't just sneak up on me like that!" Jaune replied in exasperation, Ren using the time to slink away from them and get ahead of the group. "Uh… no… I didn't have time to read while putting on my pants. They're a lot harder to put on than you'd think." Jaune said, Ruby laughing at that. "Don't laugh! It's hard to get your clothes on in ten minutes!" he said as Ruby shuffled through her backpack, pulling out the pamphlet.

"Our first class is Weapons with Professor Port." she said as they entered the dining hall, Ruby pulling a box of Frosted Justice Waffle Crunch from her backpack.

"You brought that to school with you?" Jaune asked as he took a seat and grabbed a grapefruit, grimacing at the sight of the foul fruit.

"Mhm! I said I eat it every day, didn't I?" Ruby said as she poured a bowl of it, mostly getting dust from the box. "Aw man, I think it got crushed on the trip." Ruby groaned, shaking to get what little flakes had survived.

After breakfast, students gathered into a large room, weapon racks lining the walls and a small ceramic bust of Professor Port on the desk. Mounted on the wall above the chalkboard were a collection of skulls, plaques underneath each skull designating the type of Grimm, the date of its death and how it was killed. Jaune looked at the mounted skulls in awe, Ruby smiling a bit. "I bet I know every story for those Grimm. Professor Port told a lot of stories when he visited Uncle Crowe's on the day he invited me and Yang to Beacon." Ruby said, Jaune nodding as he took it all in. They soon made their way to the empty desks, Port stepping into the room and taking his place behind the desk.

"The Creatures of Grimm have many names. Monsters, Demons, the Nightprowlers, the Shadowkin, the Amalgam of Humanity's Wickedness… but my favorite name for them is… prey," Port began with a loud chuckle, the students either laughing out of politeness or simply staring at Port, who didn't break stride as he paced the room. "Yes, I have hunted many a Grimm in my day and there is one thing that I have understood above all: A hunter is only as good as their weapon. Be it a blade, a bow or a barrel of explosive powder! In this class you will learn the finer points of wielding a weapon! You may think your time in other academies taught you everything, but you learned only the basics. True mastery of a weapon takes time and dedication. Good posture, proper upkeep and knowing what weapon truly suits you." Port continued as a young man with gray hair and woman with medium-brown skin and blonde hair stepped into the room, wheeling in a large platform truck with what looked to be several Beowolves, all stood in an offensive stance, teeth bared and looking ready to pounce on their nearest prey. The assembled students were initially nervous, thinking that they were actual Beowolves that had been frozen in stasis.

The fear was alleviated when the truck turned to show the faces, which had phrases such as "Grrrr" "Rawr" "Mean Face :(" and "I'm gonna eat your babies." crudely written on them, eliciting laughter from the students. "Clearly the Art Club did not take this project as seriously as I had hoped. But as you can tell, these are not actual Beowolves. They are gelatin and paper mache recreations. Since you haven't had enough experience to face living, thinking Grimm, we figured these would make a good substitute until-" Port's speech was interrupted as the gray-haired boy dropped one of the gelatin Beowolves, sending it headfirst to the floor and tearing its neck slightly.

"Good work, butterfingers! I told you not to hold it by the head!" the young woman shouted as she went to check the damage done.

"It's not my fault these things are heavy! Maybe if you actually held up the back I wouldn't have the carry the whole thing!" he retorted, the woman glaring at him before turning back to the damaged Beowolf.

"Its head isn't gonna hold, Professor. What a way to go, getting dropped on its head by meathead Mercury." she said, the gray-haired boy simply rolling his eyes and grabbing the next one.

"Shut up and help me with the next one. Maybe this time you'll carry your own weight." he grumbled, Port clearing his throat.

"May I continue my lecture?" he asked, the two students nodding as Port turned to face the first years. "As I was saying… you will be called and present your weapon. If you do not have one, I will be more than willing to supply you a temporary weapon. You will be tested on your striking and will cut into a Beowolf for one minute. And our first student shall be… Mr. Arc!" he said, pointing a large finger at Jaune, who gulped nervously. "Come forth and present your weapon. Tell us a bit about it. Every weapon has a story and I want to hear the story of your blade, boy!" Port commanded, Jaune getting up from his seat and stepping up to the class, shaking a bit.

"W-well… my sword is Crocea Mors.. i-it's uh… it's a family weapon… technically it's the fifth sword with that name since, well, swords don't really last all that long… eheheheh…." Jaune said, stumbling over his words as the class stared at him, hearing a soft snickering throughout as he pointed to the small V etched at the bottom of the blade's bloodgroove. "And uh… it's sharp and pointy… and it's a sword… can I cut up the Beowolf now, Professor?"

"Yes, if only to spare you the embarrassment of speaking." Professor Port said, Jaune nodding and trying to ignore the other students laughing. He ran straight for the Beowolf, swinging at it wildly, the sword bouncing off its head with a ringing sound, the blade wobbling in Jaune's hands. Jaune yelped in pain, dropping the sword.

"Anh! Professor… I think I broke my wrist." he said, Port turning to him and firmly grabbing his wrist, Jaune letting out another yelp.

"Mhm. It's broken, and no wonder. Your technique is all wrong. You have to swing with your whole body, not just your wrist and a bit of your arm. You gotta pull in a lot of weight for this. And your swing was terrible. The advantage of the sword is the sharp edge, but you hit it with the base of the blade. Having fought with your father, I know there's a great deal of potential in you, boy. But if swung a baseball bat like this, they'd put you in the mascot costume." Port said, Jaune nodding as the snickering grew louder, mixed with the sound of graphite scraping against paper from students taking notes.

"Well…. glad I could teach you guys something." Jaune said with a forced laugh before taking his seat, burying his head into his arms for the rest of class, Ruby giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"It's okay, Jaune. You can't possibly be the worst, right?" Ruby asked, innocently, Jaune just letting a grunt of shame in response. After a couple of students went by, Blake stepped next, wielding her sword.

"This is Gambol Shroud. It was a gift from an old friend of mine." Blake said calmly, gripping the handle of the sword tightly. "Not much else to really say about it. I think it's better if I let it do the talking." she said, turning to the undamaged Beowolf, sprinting forward and and stopping herself short of the Beowolf, turning on her heel and spinning with her blade, slicing the model's head right off.

"Yes! Excellent work! Good form, Ms. Belladonna!" Port said as Blake simply walked back to her seat, ignoring the applause from the other students.

"Nice job." Ren said, Blake turning and nodding to him.

"Thanks." she said before sitting down, the two returning to mutual silence. More time passed and Ren was called up, stepping up barehanded.

"Ren, did you forgot your weapon this morning?" the professor asked, Ren shaking his head.

"My main weapon is a bow and arrow. Not exactly a striking weapon, professor." he replied, Port nodding in understanding.

"Very well. We can supply you a weapon, then. Now, what would you prefer?" Port asked, Ren simply charging at the Beowolf model and sending his hand fingers first through the replica, the appendage piercing out somewhere between the shoulder blades, running along and cutting right through its back.

"My body is my weapon, professor." Ren said bluntly, shaking the gel off his hand as he pulled it out of the Beowolf. The crowd stared in awe as Ren took his seat. After a few more students practiced, Port turned to call Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha Nikos…" he read off the sheet as a spear sailed through the classroom, landing in the Beowolf's neck and launching the entire mold straight into a wall, pinning it in place. "Ah! Excellent work, Ms. Nikos! Quick and to the point! That's what I like to see in a student!" Port said with a hearty belly-laugh, Ruby rushing over to the replica and grabbing the spear, pulling it out of the Beowolf's neck and letting it drop to the floor before rushing to Pyrrha, who had seated herself in the back of the room.

"Here you go, Pyrrha!" Ruby said gleefully, Pyrrha smiling and taking the spear from the young fangirl.

"Thank you, Ruby. I was hoping to do that without stopping my note-taking." she said, ruffling Ruby's hair a bit.

"You're welcome!" Ruby said with a big grin as she returned to her seat, a few of the students whispering to each other as she made it back to her seat. Ruby would soon be called up, taking her folded scythe with her. "This is Crescent Rose, a scythe given to me by my father… after my mom passed away in a fight against a pack of Beowolves…" Ruby said, her smile fading a bit. The class went into silence until a voice called out.

"You use a scythe?! That's a gardening tool, not a weapon!" shout a short, grumpy woman with tan skin and long red hair, one of her eyes covered by her hair. A shot rang out as the woman's desk was hit but a bullet, sending her flying out of her chair in panic. "Ahhh! The hell was that?!" she shouted, looking to see Professor Port wielding a rifle the barrel still smoking.

"Please do not speak out of turn, students." Port said in a low growl, met with sound of desk and chair legs scraping against the floor as the students moved their desks back. The mad teacher nodded, turning to Ruby. "You may continue, Ruby." he said, Ruby nodding her head nervously, worried at what would happen if she asked to use the restroom during one of Port's lessons.

"Yes, I know that a scythe is mostly used for mowing grass and reaping crops, but if used just the right way…" Ruby said, charging for the Beowolf while unfolding her scythe and swinging at it, only to completely miss the target as her scythe had not fully unfolded when she reached the Beowolf. "...Uh, can I have a do over?" Ruby asked, Port chuckling heartily before answering. "No." bluntly and sending Ruby back to her seat. She didn't object, thinking it'd be a bad idea with how he takes insubordination in his class. The number of remaining students grew smaller and smaller as Weiss stepped up next.

"Take notes, farmgirl. Maybe you'll actually learn something watching an expert." Weiss said, Ruby sticking her tongue out at the Schnee heiress. "This is Myrtenaster, it is a Double-Action Dust Rapier created by Atlas Arms. It is designed with a specialized chamber to hold Dust in the center of the blade. When the chamber is spun, the Dust inside will be randomized before stopping and selecting from the six slots. While I would demonstrate this function with varying elements of dust, I assume Professor Port would take umbrage with me setting something on fire in his classroom, so I went with wind Dust." Weiss said, Port simply smiling a bit.

"Well, I wouldn't object to a little fire, but for the safety of the students, it'd be best if we not include Dust for the moment." he replied, Weiss nodding as she turned to face the Beowolf, spinning the chamber w. She took in a deep breath, before she went straight at it, rolling past the Beowolf and standing up, stabbing straight into the back of its neck. She pressed the trigger, shouting. "Luft!" as the force of the wind blasted its head off. "Excellent! I do love seeing a good decapitation!" Port cheered as Weiss took a bow, heading back to her seat.

"...What's luft?" Ruby asked, Weiss sighing in annoyance.

"You're saying it wrong. You have to hold the U. Luuuuuft," Weiss said, drawing out her U. "And it's Old Valian for "air." I always announce the element of the Dust I use that way. The same with counting every strike I hit on an opponent." she continued, Ruby rolling her eyes.

"That sounds stupid. Why would you do that?" Ruby asked.

"It allows me to know how many hits it takes to finish off an opponent. Like when I first fought Dove, it took me until vier and in my second fight against him, I only needed drei. And fighting you wouldn't take more than zwei, I defeated that fake Beowolf in ein and the amount of hits you got was null." Weiss explained, holding an equal amount of fingers to match each number she spoke, making an "OK" symbol with her hands to represent 0. Ruby's eyes twitched, gritting her teeth a bit.

"Why not just count in Valian?" Ruby asked, fighting the urge to start a fight in the middle of Port's classroom.

"It's much more poetic that way. Now, please shut up so I can take notes." Weiss said, turning back to her desk. Ruby let out a high-pitched growl, turning to her notebook as Nora skipped along to the front of the classroom.

"Behold, fellow students, the great warhammer Magnhild! This hammer has been passed down the Valkyrie line for generations!" Nora shouted, holding the hammer over her shoulder.

"Engraved with my ancestor Freya's aura, it is only able to be wielded by those bonded to the Valkyrie family, be it by blood or marriage! To any of you, it may feel like carrying an anvil in a burlap sack, but for me, my mother, my father, my grandparents and their parents before them, it is no heavier than a full-body pillow. Allow me to demonstrate!" Nora barked out, lifting the hammer up and sending it crashing down onto the head of the fake Beowolf reducing it to a gooey paste on the floor, the wooden planks of the floor breaking in two as the hammer impacted with it.

"Yes, yes! An excellent job, Nora! Though I'd say apply a little less force or by the end of the year this room will no longer have a floor." Port advised, Nora simply smiling.

"Sure thing, teach! Just try and have something a little less soft for next lesson!" she said as she made her way to her seat, the students looking in complete shock at the mess Nora left behind. Ruby was soon broken out of her trance by a sudden realization.

"Wait… my dog's name is Zwei… dad named our dog after the number two… what?"


	16. Final Harvest, Part 1

The autumn air blew leaves of red and orange throughout to match the sunset over Vale, the town lit into a dim glow by small paper lamps through the streets. It had been a month since Beacon had begun classes and the students were now preparing for the change in season. Pyrrha and Ren sat on a bench outside of Vale, barely speaking as they waited for a few others. Ren was black wearing a button down hooded jacket with faux fur brimming the hood, rubbing his hands against one another for warmth. Pyrrha had switched to wearing pants and a heavy crimson jacket, hood over her head. "So… what do you think is taking them so long?" Ren asked, watching as people ran by with several barrels of dried leaves and logs.

"No idea. I think Jaune said something about needing to get dressed." Pyrrha replied. "Can't say I blame them for wanting a few extra layers in this weather." Pyrrha said with a slight shiver. Ren soon heard footsteps approaching and turned to look towards the school.

"Hey Jaune. You look a bit… pale." Ren said, Pyrrha turning to see Jaune had indeed arrived, taking short breaths and coughing slightly. His body was covered completely in flour, leaving Jaune a bit more white than he usually was.

"It's- ack! Huuuurgh! My… costume…" Jaune said, through labored breaths.

"Costume? It looks more like something Cardin did." Pyrrha said, concerned. She went to dust off some of the flour when Jaune finally caught his breath.

"It wasn't Cardin. It was Cassandra. Someone screwed up on the pie crust and she went ballistic. Threw a whole bag of flour and hit the ceiling fan with it. Ruby had to shower, so she's gonna be late." Jaune said, Pyrrha nodding now that she understood. Cassandra Troy was the head of Advanced Cooking, a ram Faunus with long curly white hair, red eyes, large dark brown horns and most importantly, an notoriously bad temper. Which, combined with her short fuse, made Advanced Cooking one of the most life-threatening extracurricular activities in the entire school. Pyrrha recalled several occasions making her way to Wrestling Club and seeing pans, chairs and on one occasion Ruby, thrown through the window.

"So, I'm a ghost! Ooooohhhh…." Jaune said, waving his arms slowly in a failed attempt at being 'spooky' which he stopped when he realized that neither of them looked at him with anything other than confusion. "Ehehehehe… anyway, Ruby and Yang are still getting their costumes ready. They should be with us in a bit." Jaune said, Pyrrha tilting her head.

"Costumes? Why do they need... cos... tumes…" Pyrrha asked, her mouth left wide open as she saw Ruby run at them dressed in a bronze chestplate, matching armbands and an armguard that ran up one arm, before turning into a large shoulder pad shaped like a wing. Around her waist was her cloak, which had been poorly fastened around a belt in an effort to make a sarong. And finally she was wearing boots fashioned into leather straps, making them look like sandals.

"Hold on! This wig isn't holding!" Ruby shouted, trying to keep the red ponytailed wig on her head.

"Ruby… why are you dressed like me?" Pyrrha asked, Ruby soon coming to a stop.

"Oh no, this isn't you. I mean, it was… but as you can see, this was you from last year's summer tournament. The armor has a feather motif and the embroidery on the leathers have a fire aesthetic, this year you wore an outfit more resembling a lion, especially on the waistband and gauntlets, also your hair got slightly shorter this year and I got this wig last Harvest, so it's kinda big..." Ruby said, Pyrrha being taken aback by this before shaking it off.

"That's not what I meant! I meant why are you in that costume!?" Pyrrha said, raising her voice slightly. Ruby jumped a bit at this.

"Oh! Right, it's for Final Harvest! This is my fifth year in a row going as you!" Ruby said as Yang caught up, , dressed in a yellow tracksuit with black lines running along it.

"Hey guys!" Yang said with a huge grin, snickering a bit. "Nice costume, Jaune." she said, Jaune beaming proudly.

"Didn't cost me a thing!" he said with false confidence. Ren watched this play out in front of him with a look of muted bewilderment.

"So… what is this all about?" he asked, the group turning to him and Jaune putting an arm around his shoulder.

"Just follow us, Ren. We'll tell you all about it during the trip." Jaune said, dragging Ren along.

"Jaune… you're getting flour on my jacket." Ren said bluntly as Ruby, Yang and Pyrrha followed after them. As they walked, Pyrrha noticed people in costume putting up strings of paper lamps, stores putting up signs reading "FINAL HARVEST DISCOUNT! 50% OFF!" which made her curious.

"What's Final Harvest?" she asked, Yang chuckling.

"It's the autumn celebration in Vale. It's a big event. Makes great money for shops," she explained. "Everyone dresses up in costumes, there's dances, feasts and a HUGE bonfire!" Yang said, spreading her arms out to emphasize the bonfire.

"Mhm. So, what do you want to know about, guys?" Ruby asked.

"Well… why? Why the costumes? Why the feasts and the bonfire? Why all of this?" Ren asked in response, finally managing to escape Jaune's arm. Jaune rubbed his chin gingerly, trying not to upset the flour.

"Hrm… where to start... well, I guess with the old folklore of Final Harvest. In ancient times, the people of Vale believed that the Grimm were the spirits of the dead, angry and restless that they haven't passed on," Jaune began explaining. "People back before Dust would put on disguises to try and spook the angry spirits, dressed as monsters. So now people carry on that tradition with all sorts of costumes. Like how I'm a ghost, Ruby is Pyrrha and Yang is… Yang, what are you?" Jaune asked, Yang cracking her knuckles a bit.

"I am the martial arts master! Taste the fury of my fists!" Yang said excitedly, feining a punch towards Jaune, who leapt back in surprise, falling onto someone walking down the street in front of them.

"Ack! I'm sorry! I wasn't looking and… oh, hey Blake." Jaune said as he slowly got up, offering Blake a hand. Blake was wearing a large black pointed hat, a black robe, purple stockings and black pointed boots. She looked up at Jaune.

"Jaune, why are you covered in flour?" she asked.

"I'm a ghost!" Jaune said, Blake simply blinking and grabbing a twine broom next to her without looking away.

"You're covered in flour." she replied, slowly getting up.

"Hey Blake!" Ruby said, waving enthusiastically. "Great to see you're getting into the Harvest spirit! So, what are you?" she asked, Blake smiling a bit.

"Well, I'm a witch." Blake said, Yang snickering a bit.

"I'll say…" she muttered before being struck with the soft twine of Blake's broom.

"Hold you tongue or I will turn you into a toad." Blake said, her voice staying at the same level.

"I'd toad-ally be into that!" Yang said with a stupid grin. Before Ruby could groan, Blake thwacked Yang again with her broom, eliciting laughter from the group.

"Quit it. Anyway, Velvet had suggested we go to the Final Harvest Festival as a witch and magician." Blake said, looking to see Velvet catch up with her. Velvet was dressed in a black tailcoat, white dress shirt with black bowtie, black dress pants, matching dress shoes, white gloves and large top hat.

"H-hello, everyone. Hope you're all enjoying your Final Harvest." Velvet said with a bow, carefully holding onto the brim of her top hat. Another thwack! rang out followed by a yelp from Jaune.

"Stop staring. Bad Flour Man." Blake said, giving Jaune an angry glare.

"I'm a ghost!" he countered, Blake smacking him with her broom again.

"I will hex your tongue so you can only taste pumpkins and sadness." Blake threatened, confusing Jaune more than scaring him. Velvet chuckled a bit, turning to Pyrrha and Ren.

"Well, how about you two? What are you going as?" Velvet asked, the two shrugging in response.

"Well, we're actually just learning about Final Harvest. We're not from around here and Ruby, Jaune and Yang were telling us about the history." Pyrrha said.

"Oh, I see. The feasts are quite lovely around this time. Sure, the Schnee household always had magnificent feasts," Velvet said, Blake muttering something about slaves. "But there's something about being around all those people and eating delicious food just reminds me of home." she finished a smile.

"Sounds like one of Nora's family meetings… only with less broken furniture." Ren said, attempting to stay to the back of the group. Velvet giggled.

"Well, I think Blake and I had better get going. We're going to be meeting with some friends in the Zoo Quarter who are having their own feast. Have fun at the festival!" Velvet said with a wave as she and Blake walked off.

"Ooh! Sis! Sis! Can I go with them? I've been reading up on the Zoo Quarter! Can I check it out?" Ruby asked, Yang shaking her head.

"You don't wanna go there, Ruby. Some real bad stuff happens in the Zoo Quarter." Yang said.

"Yang! I'm not a kid! I can take care of myself!" Ruby objected as they started to walk again, Jaune quickly trying to get the subject off of another sibling fight.

"Ruby, why not tell Pyrrha and Ren about why the celebration's called the Final Harvest?" Jaune asked as Ruby was winding up for a right hook to Yang, who had been goading her on. She quickly turned on her heel, her attempt at a punch whiffing completely.

"Oh! The Tale of the Final Harvest! Uncle Crowe read that to me on my first Final Harvest!" Ruby said with her usual enthusiasm returning. "The story goes that a small farming village just off the coast of Vale had gotten word of a pack of Ursi had been attacking the surrounding villages. The farmers, believing that they had their best crops in years, chose not to leave but rallied the rest of the village to stay and enjoy what they believed would be their best and last harvest. Their final harvest, if you will." Ruby said with a smirk that faded as she saw the others glaring at her.

"Ehehehehe… anyway. Grains and vegetables and fruits had been gathered. The bakers, moved by their determination to see their harvest to the end, used the grain the were given to make the best bread they could. The butchers soon joined by cooking their finest cut meats. Then the vintners gathered their oldest ales, the tailors sewed their greatest clothes and the bankers soon funded a massive feast. And on that night, the whole village came together in a massive feast, choosing to live their last moments out in the open happily rather than alone in their home in fear. The next morning, the Ursi had not yet come upon the village and there was enough left over for another feast. The next day, still no Ursi and a third night of feasting. On that night, there was little coal left for a bonfire, so people threw out some of their old, broken chairs and mementos from family members long gone. They believed that the artifacts tied their spirits to the world of the living and wanted to help them pass, but we'll explain the bonfire later. On the fourth day, scouts had come to the village to tell them that the Ursi had passed by their village. The story goes that three days of hard work in the day and togetherness during the night had driven the Ursi away from the village. That is why we know this time as Final Harvest." Ruby finished as they kept walking, the sun drawing closer to setting, the paper lamps leading the quintet to a massive collection of dead leaves and dry logs, workers pouring raw Fire Dust onto the mix.

"And here it is! The Cleansing Bonfire!" Yang said with excitement, turning to their captivated audience.

"So, I'm guessing this bonfire is tied into the folklore of Grimm as evil spirits, right?" Pyrrha asked, Yang nodding.

"Mhm! Villagers would gather with wood and sage and burn it all to cleanse the village of the Grimm. Of course, sage was phased out of the practice when it turns out the clouds the fire produced weren't warding off the Grimm and were just getting everybody sick. Now, enough history talk, they have a 50% discount on pie! C'mon Ruby" Yang said, grabbing Ruby's arm and rushing off to the baked goods stand.

"...Anyway… we have about an hour before the bonfire is lit. If you're wanting to get a costume, you better…" Jaune began, stopping as he saw something advancing on Ren.

"RAWRRRR! I AM A DINOSAUR!" said Nora, who had attempted to tackle Ren. She was dressed in a large pink dinosaur costume, her head poking from the dinosaur's open mouth. Ren stood calmly as Nora grabbed onto him, continuing to growl.

"Guys, don't be alarmed, but there is a dinosaur attacking me." Ren said, eliciting laughter from Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Hey, Nora. So. going as a dinosaur huh?" Jaune asked, Nora finally releasing Ren from her hug, the soft material of the costume acting as a cushion from her usual deathgrip of a hug.

"Uh-huh! I was looking around the costume shops and I found these great dinosaur costumes for me and Ren!" Nora said excitedly, placing a rubber dinosaur head onto Ren. "Now you're a dinosaur!" Nora exclaimed, grabbing his arm and pulling him away. "Let's go ruin a dinosaur zoo!"

"Do dinosaurs even have zoos?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha shrugging.

"Maybe. Anyway, I'd better go see about finding a costume. I'd invite you to join me, but I don't think the stores would appreciate your costume." Pyrrha said with a smirk before walking off, waving to Jaune as she looked for a costume shop. Jaune waved back, watching as Pyrrha was out of sight before turning to watch the sun set in the distance.


	17. Final Harvest, Part 2

Jaune sat down on a bench, watching the stars in the sky, which had turned into a dark blue in that time. "Ten minutes to go... doubt there'd be a lot left in the costumes left." he uttered to himself, looking at his watch.

"It was a challenge, but I rather like it." A voice said from his right. Jaune turned to see Pyrrha, who was clad in a red mask with a silver crescent moon lining the eyeholes. The rest of the costume consisted of a mix of red and green with silver lining the whole costume; a red and green t-shirt with a silver "D" in the center designed to resemble both a bow bow, and a moon, along with a silver H made of arrows, a pair of dark green tights, red boots with matching laces and a pair of tasseled armbands.

"Ah, going as Diana Hunter, eh?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha nodding.

"Mhm. Surprised you know about her." Pyrrha said.

"Well, my sister Valerie works with the VWA and she likes sending videos of her matches back to the house, so I know a lot of women's wrestlers. Diana's a favorite of mine." Jaune replied.

"I see. I actually knew Diana from back before I started fighting in tournaments. We trained at Olympus Gym together and Mr. Ritters said I'd be a great wrestler, but my parents always thought I'd do better in gladiatorial combat and being a Huntress." Pyrrha said as they began walking over to the fire pit, where a large crowd had assembled with guards blocking the collection of kindle and Dust.

"Stay behind the white circle, people! Get too close to a fire this big and your next costume will be burn ward patient!" one of the guards warned, people carefully moving to keep behind a white circle that had been painted onto the street. The guards pulled out small red Dust crystals and lighters, lighting a flame underneath the crystals. The faint glow of their crystals brightened as the flame brushed against it and soon the guards pulled back their arms, counting to three. On three, the crystals were thrown into the pile, creating small bursts of fire on impact that erupted the concoction into a massive flame that shot into the sky before finally settling.

The assembled crowd cheered and hollered, Pyrrha looking in awe. "Wow… that's amazing!" she exclaimed, her eyes lit up in joy.

"Sure beats some of the bonfires we had in Patch!" Jaune responded, equally impressed by the magnitude of the flame. The fire crackled loudly as people were allowed to safely come closer with long sticks, supplied by the guards. Attached to the sticks were marshmallows, hot dogs and bags of popcorn seeds, people hovering them over the fire. Jaune attempted to cook some popcorn, only for the flames to burn a small hole in the bag and send the popping kernels spilling into fire. "Damn it! I spent five Lien on that popcorn!" Jaune cried, Pyrrha patting him on the shoulder.

"Well, Dust fires are stronger than the normal fires you had at home." she said reassuringly.

"Ahahahahaha! We shall eat like kings tonight, Ren!" Nora exclaimed from afar as she held several meals on the end of a pole,

"Nora, I don't think you're supposed to cook a whole turkey on a massive bonfire." Ren objected, having discarded the dinosaur head for a simple green training gi. The head was now on the end of his pole, skewered through entirely and flailing limply with any movements he made.

"Nonsense! What is a fire good for if not to cook fine meats? I am simply doing as our ancestors taught us when they made fire!" Nora shouted back as she pulled an array of venison, poultry and steak from the fire.

"That looks delicious, Nora." Pyrrha said as she walked over the two, Jaune following after her.

"Thanks, Pyrrha! Heh, maybe after dinner we can bake Jaune for dessert!" Nora jokingly offered, the flour-covered fighter scowling.

"I'm a ghost!" Jaune exclaimed, Pyrrha chuckling slightly.

"Come, friends! Enjoy a fine feast with us!" Nora said as she bit straight into the piece of venison closest to the shaft.

"...I'll get us some plates." Ren offered, walking off. As he walked, he bumped into Ruby. "Ah, excuse me, Ruby." Ren said in his usual stiff tone.

"It's okay, Ren! Just trying to find my way to the Zoo Quarter!" she said, looking around a bit to check to see that Yang wasn't following her. Yang was busily bobbing for apples. "Don't tell Yang where I'm going, okay?" Ruby asked in a whisper, Ren looking at Yang, who had a massive grin as she held a red apple in her teeth.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about me talking to her." he said, Ruby nodding and heading off.

Ruby waded her way through the busy streets, not really sure of where the Zoo Quarter was. She had only been there for a few months and had mostly spent her time in the Residential and Market Quarters so she didn't know how to find it. After a few more minutes. the people crowding her had become less and less, meaning Ruby was now away from the ceremony as she kept walking, pulling out a small lantern to light her path. Her eyes were able to make out the faint shapes of the buildings around her, which started to become more decayed with broken windows and cracked brick, but the same liveliness from the festival could be heard in the distance. She stopped when she noticed a piece of graffiti on one of the walls, a black wolf's head with bared fangs. Before she could voice her curiosity at the marking, a voice called out in the darkness.

"Hey! What are you doing around here, human?" the voice said, Ruby turning her lantern to see a young boy step up to her. His hair was short and looked to be gray with patches of black peppered in, the opposite of Professor Ozpin's hair. His eyes matched his hair with dark rings around them.

"Ah! I just wanted to see the Zoo Quarter. I'm new to Vale." Ruby explained as two others walked up to the boy. To his left was another boy with brownish-red hair and green eyes, small dog-like ears poking out from his hair. To his right was a girl with short brown hair and matching eyes, the tips of her frontmost teeth sticking out from her upper lip.

"Yeah, sure! And you wanted to bring your spear along with you because it's new to Vale too, right?" the gray-haired said sarcastically, Ruby shaking her head rapidly.

"No, it's not like that! This is a toy spear! It's for my costume!" she answered frantically, trying to ease the situation. She pulled out her spear, which made some of the faunus jump back, until she began to wiggle it from side to side, making the whole rubber spear wobble. "Real spears don't jiggle!" she exclaimed, the dog-eared boy grabbing the toy spear and ripping it out of Ruby's hands. He bent the spear, tying it into a knot.

"You made a big mistake coming around here at night, girlie. Sylvia, Percy… what do you say we give her a proper Zoo Quarter welcome?" the gray-haired boy asked, Ruby seeing the faint gleam of something from the corner of her eye. She looked to see that the boy had pulled out a knife.

"Whoa hold up! W-we can talk about this, right?" Ruby asked, backing away slightly.

"Sorry, but the time for talking's over." he said, pulling back his arm only to suddenly something caught his wrist. "Ah! What the?" he said, turning to see Blake staring at them.

"Jasper! What do you think you're doing? Pulling knives on an unarmed civilian! I can't believe you three!" Blake admonished, Jasper dropping his knife.

"But Blake! She's a human! She's probably here to scout for some rich jerks in Vale!" Sylvia objected with a shrill tone.

"She's not. Ruby's a student at Beacon Academy." Blake said, Ruby sighing in relief.

"Just because she's from Beacon doesn't mean she's good. You did tell us about that one student who broke your nose in a fight." Percy retorted.

"True, but I've spent time with Ruby. The worst she'll do is cling onto you until you can no longer walk." Blake answered, Ruby letting out a small "Hey!" from behind the trio.

"Huddle time, guys!" Jasper said, the group forming a small huddle. Hushed whispers were exchanged and they soon broke it up, turning to Ruby. "Well, since Blake says you're cool, then we can have you join us at our feast. But you gotta be able to keep up with us!" Jasper said with a huge grin, the three Faunus children running off.

"Heh! You picked the wrong person to try and race!" Ruby called back, immediately running past Blake and bowling the trio over, running her way to a nearby fire, stopping at the crowd of gathered Fauni. While many had stood up in shock and unease at the incoming human, Velvet smiled.

"Ah, Ruby! Good to see you, please have a seat." Velvet offered, having set down her top hat a while ago. "Thanks, Velvet!" Ruby said, sitting down next to Velvet. "Everyone, this is Ruby Rose. She's one of the new students at Beacon Academy." she said, trying to ease the tension. "And… uh… she likes cake… a lot… and reading…"

Blake and the Faunus kids soon caught up with Ruby, the three panting a bit. "Man, you're fast." Jasper said between breaths. Ruby chuckled, grabbing some marshmallows from a nearby bag.

"Thanks. Here, have a consolation prize." Ruby said as she tossed marshmallows to them. The festivities resumed as normal, their new guests having a lot of questions about the Zoo Quarter. "So, what's it like down here?" was her first question.

"Well, it's home." Jasper said simply.

"What Jasper means is that it may be… less than inviting, there are a lot of good people here. Plus, Blake is always around to visit." Sylvia said, picking marshmallow from her front teeth.

"Though there's always the problem of humans. Sometimes the rich come around with armed guards. There either here to pick fights, pick up some slaves or just pick on us." Percy finished with a scowl.

"Percy! Don't use that word!" Velvet admonished, Blake looking up from her book.

"Velvet, you're a slave to the Schnee family. You can deny it until you're blue in the face, but that's what they are: Slave Drivers. One of many." Blake said coldly, her amber eyes gleaming in the fire's light.

"Maybe I was a slave, but Jacques Schnee made me an honorary citizen and a servant because he saw value in me!" Velvet shouted, the raucous crowd going silent as Velvet glared at her friend, who simply shut her book.

"Velvet, they saw value in you the way they see value in a guard dog. As long as you're healthy, obey their orders and don't harm anyone, they'll keep you around." Blake said, keeping her anger in check.

"If I was like a guard dog to them, they wouldn't feed me! Give me shelter! Clean clothes! They-" Velvet objected, Blake quickly slamming her book shut.

"They would've paid you. A guard dog is fed to keep it strong. It is housed, bathed and treated well to ensure loyalty. But its master thinks it doesn't need anything more. The Schnee family thinks all you need is a little food and and a bed to keep you in their back pocket! And they're right… even after they got rid of you, shipped you off to Beacon, you're still groveling about them! You're constantly defending them like they were your own family! You're a lost cause, Velvet!" Blake said venomously, Velvet moving back with tears forming in her eyes.

"Blake! Stop it! This isn't the time to be angry! We should be celebrating a holiday, isn't that supposed to bring us together?!" Ruby asked, standing in front of Velvet with her arms outstretched. Jasper soon joined up with her.

"Yeah! You're making Velvet cry, you jerk!" Jasper said, glaring at Blake, his friends joining in shielding Velvet from Blake's aggression. Blake sighed, simply walking off without another word.

"Blake, wait!" Ruby called out, reaching for her in the darkness. Sylvia walked over, patting her on the shoulder.

"It's okay, Ruby… Blake's always been kind of tough…oh shoot! I just remembered! We forgot to deliver the package to Mr. Knox!" Sylvia said, rooting around in the small bag attached to her belt and finding a small cardboard package.

"Ah man! We'd better get going! Hey, Ruby, wanna join us for a courier run?" Jasper asked, Ruby turning to Jasper and trying to smile.

"Sure, lead the way!" she answered, Jasper taking the box from Sylvia and heading off with the other three in tow. "So you guys work as couriers?" Ruby asked, trying not to outpace the others.

"Mhm! We get small jobs, take a couple of Lien to deliver a package or a message. You gotta make a living in the Zoo Quarter!"" Jasper said, pulling a small crumpled up heap of parchment and unfolding it. Sylvia walked over to her gray-haired friend, helping him decipher the map.

"So… what kind of packages do you deliver?" Ruby asked, turning her head to the left to face Percy.

"We don't know. Couriers don't peek in people's mail and it's better for it to be a secret. Around the Zoo Quarter, a secret is the most valuable thing." Percy said somewhat cryptically.

"Yeah? Why's that?" Ruby asked, pressing further in her curiosity.

"Well, the Zoo Quarter doesn't have a lot of commodities to trade, but what we do have is hundreds to thousands of ears listening at all times. Someone's gonna want to pay to keep what they heard quiet and others will want to pay to hear it." Percy explained. Ruby nodded as Jasper and Sylvia finally figured out the way to Knox's house.

The journey took several minutes, Ruby seeing a it more clearly thanks to having additional lantern light. More buildings tagged with black wolf heads and another marking on others, showing a clawed hand grasping onto a more human hand. "Hey, Jasper. What are these markings about? Are there gangs around here?" Ruby asked, Jasper looking up from the map.

"Huh? Well, yeah. The White Claw and the Black Fang. They're always fighting each other, but whenever I ask and adult, they just tell me I'm too young to understand and that I should stay away from them. But the Black Fang are cool, ya know? They're always payin' us to deliver packages for them! Never got to see them open one in front of me. They keep sayin' they'll do it later." Jasper said with a grin. "The White Claw are nice enough, but all their jobs are kind of boring. Deliver this letter to this guy in this sector and wait to see if he has a reply then bring it back here. And their pay is nothing compared to the Black Fang jobs! Maybe about five Lien if you're lucky!" he continued as they came closer to the house. The house was probably one of the nicer ones Ruby saw on the street by virtue of having actual windows and on the house was the black wolf's head again, which Ruby had surmised was the symbol of the Black Fang.

Jasper headed up the stairs, knocking on the door. "Mr. Knox! We got a package for ya! Gray Couriers LLC!" Jasper called.

"Does he even know what an LLC is?" Ruby whispered, Sylvia shaking her head. The door soon creaked open and the the four children turned to see a thin, middle-aged man with long jet black hair and white eyes that lit up in the light of their lanterns.

"Ah, the runts… you say you have a package for me." the black-haired man said, holding out a thin, bony hand in front of Jasper. Jasper quickly handed him the box, holding out his own hand for payment. Knox nodded, reaching into his jacket to remove a small handful of coins, given them to Jasper. The others saw Knox's face turn into a sneer. "I smell something foul… you've brought another with you… a human…" Knox said, spitting out the last word as if it were some sort of disgusting taste that lingered on his tongue.

"Uh-huh! Ruby's from Vale! She wanted to hang out with the folks at the Zoo Quarter" Sylvia said with a smile, showing that her other teeth were normally sized compared to her frontmost teeth.

"I see… well, I have a special gift for you, Ruby." Knox said with a smile, turning to shut the door. "Please, wait here. I'll need a moment to fetch it." he said before closing the door. Within seconds, Jasper, Sylvia and Percy let out a shared cry of excitement, running over to their new friend.

"Wow, Ruby! We get some Lien and you get a gift from Mr. Knox! How cool is tonight?" Jasper said, Ruby slowly forming a smile.

"Mr. Knox is the coolest! He's got all these swords that he made himself! He said when I'm old enough to join Black Fang, he'll make one for me!" Percy added, ears twitching a bit.

"And he's blind, but because all of her other senses are strengthened, he's able to see people with his ears and nose. That's why he was able to tell you were with us just by smelling you!" Sylvia finished as the door swung open, Mr. Knox standing in the doorway with a katana in his hand.

"Oh cool! Ruby's gonna get her own sword!" Jasper exclaimed, Percy scowling a bit. Mr. Knox stepped down the stairs, Ruby walking over to meet him.

"Thank you for the sword, Mr. Knox, but I won't be needing it! I actually have a scythe back at Beacon. You can't take your weapons off school grounds unless it's for missions and, well, I'm only a first year so I won't be seeing a lot of action." Ruby explained.

"This sword is not for you, child." the black-haired man said coldly, Ruby stepping back a bit before Percy ran up in front of her.

"So, the sword's for me, right?" Percy asked, holding his hand out. Knox simply grabbed his shoulder and moved him aside, advancing on Ruby.

"Stand aside, child. They intend to bring their plague to our front doors." Knox said, drawing closer and closer to Ruby. "I will make sure that this one is left on my yard as a warning to the rest of her kind!" he shouted, charging at Ruby with his sword outstretched, Ruby scrambling to dodge the attack.

"Mr. Knox! Stop! Ruby's our friend!" Jasper shouted, trying to tackle the older Faunus only to be sidestepped.

"She has poisoned your young minds! She'll simply turn around and take you to one of her own as slaves!" Knox called back, Sylvia and Percy joining their friend in trying to fight him off, only for him to quickly dodge them with ease.

"Ruby! Run!" Percy called, Ruby not needing to be told twice as she bolted off into the night, using her Semblance to bolster her speed.

Ruby ran and ran, her lantern soon slipping from her hands, which were sweating from panic. "No!" she cried out as the lantern hit the street, glass shattering and the Light Dust inside, seeing only a brief flash before she was left in total darkness. She quickly halted her movement, nearly hitting a wall. "Oh no! Oh no! Okay… gotta stay calm… Gotta stay calm…" Ruby said quietly, taking a deep breath as she began to walk slowly, looking for a source of light or the bonfire she was at before this whole mess started. She used her hands to feel the wall close by, staying close to it as she listened for anyone around, hoping that it was one of her new friends here to tell her that they found a way back to Vale. Or Velvet or Blake, who knew their way around the Zoo Quarter. Or Yang riding Hornet. "Someone… anyone…" Ruby muttered, soon hearing a soft clicking sound. "Huh? What's that? Who's there?" she called out, the clicking growing louder. Ruby quickly tried to run away from whatever was making that sound, stumbling in the dark in the hopes of finding an escape. The clicking grew louder and louder, Ruby covering her ears in order to drown it out. She kept running, hands at her ears and eyes shut tight, coming to a halt when she ran straight into a wall.

"Anh! Wall…" Ruby said, moving around and feeling more brick around her. "Okay… I'm at a dead end… now I just gotta send up a flare…" Ruby said, reaching into her bag to pull out a small Fire Dust crystal, the faint red glow giving off light. "Hrm… not bright enough…need more..." she muttered, going back to her bag and pulling out a book of matches, lighting one up and running it against the Fire crystal, the crystal glowing brighter. "Aha! Perfect!" Ruby said, her fear fading away in the red light.

She looked up from the crystal, seeing a hand reach out of the shadows and grab her by the throat, slamming her into the brick wall. Ruby gasped for air, dropping the Fire crystal with a clink as Knox drew himself into the red light, a sick grin on his face."Caught you." Knox said, putting his sword to her neck.

"Anh… please… let me go…" Ruby begged, grabbing at his hand and attempting to pry it off.

"Your foul blood will not taint our home any longer, spawn…" Knox said coldly, Ruby shutting her eyes and letting out a faint scream. However, the sound of flesh being torn echoed in her ears. "Anh! Damn it!" Knox shouted, Ruby opening her eyes as he had let go of her. Knox held his shoulder, gritting his teeth as he turned to face a man with long flowing brown hair and matching eyes with a pair of large antlers poking out of his head holding a shortsword. "Anh… I knew I smelled a human lover… stand aside, Devon, or you will die with this plague." the blind Faunus warned, holding up his blade.

"Yield, Knox. You can't fight with that wound and I don't want to hurt you any further." Devon said calmly, though Knox immediately charged at him, the deer Faunus quickly blocking the attack by trapping the sword in his antlers. "I won't fight you! Just let the girl go!" Devon shouted, pulling his head back, Knox gripping the sword tightly and pulling against Devon's antlers.

"You won't fight? Good! Then killing you won't take long!" Knox shouted back, pulling as the cut on his shoulder only split further, blood dripping onto the street. Ruby watched, reaching slowly for the Fire crystal she had dropped as Knox freed his sword from Devon's antlers.

"Hey!" She shouted, and instinctively Knox swung his blade back to try and strike at her. She leapt into the air, smashing the crystal with an open palm against his face, setting it ablaze with a bright conflagration. This burned his face, along with Ruby's hand as he screamed in pain, stumbling away from the both of them.

"Ruby, you alright!?" He asked her, she just gritted her teeth, pressing her somewhat skinless bare arm to her chest.

"No, I'm not. But we need to leave, NOW!" Ruby shouted, running off. Devon quickly followed after, turning and looking to Knox as he writhed on the ground, clutching his face and raving that he would kill them. The two kept running, heading to a small flicker of light in the clearing.

"Ruby! Devon! Over here!" called Jasper, waving them on with a Light crystal in his hand.

Ruby ran over to Jasper. "Jasper! We gotta run! Knox is burnt up but-" Ruby began before stopping, moving away from her gray-haired friend.

"Ruby, what's wrong? It's just me…" Jasper said, Ruby still moving away from the shadow moving closer and closer behind him.

"J-Jasper… behind you!" Ruby cried, Jasper turning around and bringing the shadow to light. The shadow soon revealed itself to be Blake. "...Blake?" Ruby asked, Blake quickly kneeling down.

"Ruby, are you alright?" Blake asked with a concerned tone in her voice.

"Blake… m-my hand…" Ruby replied, Blake gently taking the burnt hand by the undamaged portion near the elbow and looking over the damage.

"Ruby, going off on your own on this side of town is pretty reckless, I'm surprised no one has warned you." Blake said, inspecting the arm over as Ruby frowned in response.

"I didn't go off on my own! I went Jasper and his friends!" Ruby objected, Blake scowling.

"So they should've stayed with you when things went wrong… and I have told them before not to take jobs from members of the Black Fang!" Blake snapped, turning her eyes to Jasper who looked down, digging his foot into the gravel. Blake returned to inspecting Ruby's wound. "Hrm… third degree burns. We'll need to get you to a hospital. I'll take it from here, Devon. Thank you for saving her." Blake said, getting up.

"Think nothing of it, Blake. I should hope that this little incident hasn't scarred poor Ruby." Devon said, Blake nodding and turning on her heel.

"Come on, Ruby. We'd better going." Blake said, Ruby nodding.

"Bye, Jasper. Good luck on your courier jobs… don't take any from Knox, okay?" Ruby said as she began to follow Blake, Jasper waving goodbye as the two headed off. As Ruby walked, she saw the marks of the White Claw and Black Fang. She remembered what Jasper had said about adults keeping them in the dark. "Blake… what are White Claw and Black Fang?" Ruby asked, Blake stopping in her tracks.

"...What did Jasper tell you?" Blake asked, wanting to see how much Ruby knew.

"Only that the two are gangs here in the Zoo Quarter." she replied.

"Well, there's more to it than that, After the Third Crusade, Faunus were forced into the Zoo Quarter, seen as lesser beings. Humans would come down either to hunt them for sport, take them as slaves… still do from time to time. But the Faunus who had fought in that war had enough and wanted to strike back. But without the power they once had, they instead formed a group to protest their unfair treatment. That movement was the White Claw. At first, the White Claw were simply anti-human and attack any human that came into the Zoo Quarter. The attacks by humans had decreased and it felt like Faunus had finally gained something resembling freedom from their oppression." Blake explained.

"So then why didn't Devon help Knox?" Ruby asked, looking down at her burnt hand.

"Because some humans didn't hold animosity towards the Faunus. Veterans of the Crusade who had seen the whole war as pointless, who had witnessed atrocities that none of the upper class couldn't understand. They sought peace with the White Claw and while there was fighting among the Faunus over the idea of human allies, their goal had shifted from defending their home to seeking equal rights between humans and Fauni." Blake answered, stopping to look at the symbol on a nearby building, of a clawed and human hand clasped tightly together. "That marking used to be one of a white wolf with red eyes and bared fangs… that sound familiar to you, Ruby?" she asked, Ruby nodding nervously.

"Th-the symbol of the Black Fang, right?" Ruby said, body shaking.

"Yes. As I had said, there was infighting amongst the White Claw. Between those who had seen humanity as allies in their cause and… and those who simply wanted to see humanity burned to the ground. The fighting turned to violence between Faunus with humans getting caught in the crossfire. Soon, the White Claw had fractured, with a new group forming… The Black Fang. Militant and dangerous, the Black Fang swore that they would make humanity pay for what they had done by using scare tactics and guerrilla warfare. And it worked… in the worst way. Humans fear the Faunus now more than before. There's a reason you don't see many Faunus in Vale, Ruby..." Blake said, Ruby taking it all in. But she had one more question lingering in her mind.

"Blake… how do you know all this?" Ruby asked.

Blake stood there, deep in thought. Ruby looked at her, waiting for her to say something, but Blake didn't know what to say. She took in a deep breath, but before she could speak, she heard the roar of an oncoming motorcycle. The two turned to see Hornet screech to a halt in front of them, Yang taking off her helmet, her body glowing a bright yellow. "Ruby! I can't believe you would do this! You had me scared half to death!" Yang shouted, Ruby looking down at her hand. Yang's aura began to dim, her anger replaced with worry. "...Ruby.. your hand…" Yang said, her tone becoming more motherly, Ruby seething as the adrenaline finally had worn down.

"Sis… it hurts…" Ruby said, Yang reaching into her bag for a teal Dust crystal. Yang tore off a piece of her costume with her teeth, smashing the crystal on the ground, water pouring out of the broken crystal. She soaked the rag before wrapping around Ruby's hand, her aura glowing brighter than before as she stood herself back up, walking up to Blake.

"I never want to see you near my sister ever again! You hear me?!" Yang growled, getting nose-to-nose with Blake. Blake normally would've had some sort of quip or barb to throw back at Yang, but she heard none of Yang's usual braggadocio in her voice.

"Loud and clear. Make sure she gets to the hospital." Blake said, walking away.

"Blake! Don't go!" Ruby called as Yang took her by her undamaged arm, helping her onto Hornet. "Yang! Blake didn't hurt me! She was looking out for me!" Ruby objected, Yang still glowing bright, not needing to use Hornet's lights in this state.

"I knew that girl was up to no good!" Yang shouted, ignoring Ruby's arguments to the contrary. "I leave you alone for five seconds and you nearly get your hand burnt off!"

Yang's ranting echoed in the night as people walked by, taking off parts of their costumes as they headed for home. The paper lamps were being put out around them, the only light still glowing was Yang's aura burning brightly. They soon made it to the hospital, Yang finally calming down as she parked Hornet. The sisters soon made it into the hospital, staff quickly taking Ruby away to be treated. Yang sat in the waiting room, looking out the window at the moon. "Happy Final Harvest…"


	18. Broken Yet Whole

Ruby headed back to Beacon the next morning with a bandaged arm and a small pamphlet, pulling out her student ID card and swiping it through the gate's card reader. The machine let out a chirp. "Student ID Accepted. Ruby Rose, Year 1. Welcome back, Ruby." An automated and extremely upper class voice said in a very artificial tone. The LCD screen just above the card reader showed a small smiley face as well. The gate swung open, Ruby heading down the walkway back to the school, knowing she'd need some help around school, but not sure of who to turn to. "Let's see… Weiss is a spoiled meany pants… Blake I'm still on the fence about because she yelled at Velvet and Yang's sister license is revoked… so that just leaves me with… Jaune! That's right!" Ruby said with a smile, heading off to see where Jaune was. She checked the clock, ten minutes to noon, that meant classes had ended by now. "And if memory serves me right, today's when we'd meet for… oh no…" Ruby said as a chill ran down her spine.

"Attention, Losers! Today we're going to make the best damn cake you will ever see in your miserable lives. LET'S CRACK THEM EGGS, MAGGOTS!" shouted the all too familiar voice of the Advanced Cooking instructor, Cassandra Troy. Ruby stood behind the door, shaking slightly as she reached for the door, not sure if she should enter the room or simply play dead and hope Cassandra fell for it. "ARC! WHERE IS THE LITTLE RED FLOWER GIRL!?" Cassandra shouted, Jaune letting out a yelp.

"Ah! I haven't seen her, sir! Ma'am! Sir!" Jaune called back.

"Hold that thought, Arc! Alistair, what have I told you about greasing the pan?! DON'T MAKE ME PUT YOU IN THE BOX AGAIN!" came Cassandra's barking call, Ruby quickly ducking her head as she knew what was coming. A cake pan came crashing through the window, which was forged from sugar glass since the school figured it was better for the budget to have her window easily replaced.

Ruby figured she had little hope of surviving if she didn't show herself, so she quickly opened the door, rushing in. "I'm here, Ms. Troy! Sorry I'm late, I just got back from the hospital! My hand got burned last night! Please don't be mad!" Ruby cried, barely taking time between sentences.

"...Why didn't you say so, Rose?" Cassandra said, the class going somewhat quiet in shock at how calm their short-fused instructor was being. "A good cook isn't going to be able to work on one hand. I may be a bit strict but I always care about my charges. That's why I have the Box. I'd rather you take time off and heal than have you burn your other hand when Arc drops a pot of boiling water." Cassandra said with a smile, ruffling Ruby's hair while Jaune let out an indignant "Hey!"

"Ah… th-thank you, Ms. Troy." Ruby said, bowing and heading off, Cassandra returning to yelling at her students.

"Ruby's got a burnt hand! What's your excuse, maggots?! Get back to cake!" Cassandra shouted, the sound of clutter following as Ruby went to gather the assignments for today. Ruby zipped around the halls, going from class to class and picking up her assignments before racing to the library to work. She let out a few gasps of air as she stopped by the library door.

"Phew… I've been doing... a lot of running lately…" Ruby said between pitched breaths, heading inside and finding a table for herself. While she worked, she heard the chair in front of her shift slightly. Ruby looked up from her notebook to see Jaune about to sit down with homework of his own.

"Hey. So… burnt your hand?" Jaune asked, breaking the ice in the worst way possible.

"Yeah… bit of an incident with a bonfire." Ruby said, her eyes shifting slightly to the right. She didn't want to mention any Faunus and give Jaune the wrong impression of them. "So, I see you survived Advanced Cooking." Ruby said, Jaune chuckling and nodding.

"Honestly, it's not that bad compared to Study of Aura. Sure, Cassandra can be a bit scary, but at least she gives direct orders. Unlike Ms. Crickett." Jaune said in a complete understatement, looking over his notes.

"You're still struggling with Aura? It's not really all that hard to wrap your head around. It's energy that surrounds all living things… well, apart from Grimm. Aura flows through the body, grants us power beyond what our own physical body can give us…. Hm… I got an idea!" Ruby said, using her undamaged hand to grab Jaune's arm, pulling him out of the chair "C'mon Jaune! We're going to the gym!" she exclaimed, dragging him out of the library and across the street to the gymnasium. "Like Uncle Crowe said, the best way to learn sometimes is to watch!" she said as she opened the door, seeing Ren doing his usual regimen of push-ups, Nora sitting on his back, counting.

"215… 216… 217… come on, Ren! I know you can do better than that! Be an ant and carry this pebble up the hill!" Nora shouted, Ren pushing harder and harder, his expression remaining the same.

"See? That right there is what I mean, Jaune! Look at Ren! See how he can lift Nora on his back without breaking a sweat! That's not just his body pushing them up. That's him tapping into his aura." Ruby said aloud, Nora turning and waving to her and Jaune.

"Hey Ruby! Hey Jaune! Wanna come and give me some help putting Ren down?" she asked, Ruby nodding and walking over, finding a spot on Ren's back to sit on.

"...I think I'll stand for now." Jaune said as Ren continued his push-ups, his body slowly adjusting to the additional weight.

"So... what brings you two... around here?" Ren asked between grunts.

"Well, I wanted to teach Jaune about Aura by showing it in at work. See, even with two people on his back, Ren can still do push-ups as if there were no weight at all. Aura can give you greater power, but it depends on what you channel your aura into. Aura is like… using your body to its maximum potential. Be it your focus and problem solving skills.. Or even something like fighting while ignoring pain. People have devoted years to studying it, but don't understand how it works. Some people have spent years mastering it, but could never put it into words." Ruby explained, Jaune nodding and quickly grabbing a notebook. He began to take notes as Ruby got off of Ren.

"And then there's Semblance. Semblance is manifesting Aura into something beyond human capabilities. They can range from simple abilities such as my speed. After all, most 14 year old girls don't run at a top speed of a car on the highway. And then you have powers that are outside of our reach otherwise. Like Weiss has those spinny snowflake things and… uh…" Ruby said, rubbing her chin in deep thought.

"Oooh! Let me!" Nora cried, jumping off of Ren and onto a nearby treadmill. "See, Semblance is linked to your very being," Nora began, turning on the treadmill and breaking into a run. "People who study it are often unsure if it's linked to your genetics or to your soul. Some even say that your Semblance is made the same day you are born, and it is your destiny to have. There are others who theorize that certain Semblances are tied to a family's lineage!" Nora explained.

As Nora ran, sparks began to shoot off from the treadmill, its speed picking up slowly. "Like with my Semblance! Dating back to Freya, my family has had the power to produce and channel lightning through our bodies! It is why the Valkyrie crest is Manghild wrapped in bolts of lightning!" Nora shouted, her body becoming entangled in electricity and the treadmill going faster. Jaune looked at the interface, seeing the speed marked at "40" and rising. "This power allows us to become immune to lightning. Family legends tell of Freya riding into a massive thunderstorm, grabbing the heart of the storm and dropping back down to punch a Goliath with the full force of the storm in her fist!" Nora said with a massive grin on her face, the treadmill exploding and sending her full force into the wall.

"Nora!" Jaune and Ruby cried, running to check on her as she had left a massive indent in the wall.

"Nora, are you alright? How many fingers am I holding up?" Jaune asked, holding up four fingers.

"Whoooo! That was amazing! I'm feeling wired right now! You oughta try that, Jaune!" Nora suggested, Jaune rapidly shaking his head.

"No way! I am not getting on your Treadmill of Death!" Jaune said, backing away from Nora, accidentally bumping into Pyrrha as she was walked by, causing her to drop her water bottle.

"Ah! Sorry, Pyrrha." Jaune said, reaching for the bottle only for a red blur to pass by.

"Here ya go, Pyrrha!" Ruby said, handing her the bottle.

"Ah, thank you, Ruby. I heard about your… unfortunate incident last night. I hope you'll get better soon." Pyrrha said, Ruby's eyes lighting up.

"It's okay! Now I have a bandage on my arm like you do!" Ruby said breathlessly while waving her bandaged hand in front of her idol, Pyrrha resisting the urge to palm her face, sighing softly to herself.

"Ruby… my bandages come from cutting my knuckles in training and combat. Yours are… a bit more severe." she explained calmly, Ruby face faulting and putting her hand down. "So, what brings you to the gym?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, I was helping Jaune better understand Aura… say, Pyrrha. What's your Semblance?" Ruby asked back. Pyrrha held out her hand, small sparks arcing through her fingertips. Jaune backing away quickly.

"Oh no, more lightning! Not more lightning!" Jaune said with a panicked tone, trying to run further only to feel something tug at him. "Huh? What's going on…? ack! My weapon!" he exclaimed, looking to see his sword and scabbard being pulled the other way. Try as he might, Jaune couldn't resist the pull on his sword, which drew him closer to Pyrrha.

"Calm down, Jaune. I'm not going to blast you across the room with lightning. My Semblance pretty much makes me an electromagnet. I can control the direction and strength of magnetic fields, directing them toward or away from where I wish." she explained, Ruby laughing at Jaune's continued struggle against his own weapon. Pyrrha soon shut her hand, releasing her hold on Jaune's sword, Jaune falling onto his back with how much force he was applying to pull himself away.

"Ack! So super speed, super strength, magic circles, lightning powers, electromagnets... and then there's me with nothing…" Jaune said, sighing as Pyrrha helped him back up.

"Don't worry, Jaune. Semblance is not something that is easily granted. You'll find yours is time, you just need to focus on channeling your Aura for the moment. Perhaps you should consider training with Ren. While some focus their aura into a single aspect of their physical abilities, Ren has managed to greatly enhance his strength, speed, endurance, reflexes and more. If anyone can teach you how to channel Aura, it's probably Ren." Pyrrha suggested, Ruby nodding in agreement.

"Well… I guess it wouldn't hurt to try…" Jaune said, walking over to Ren, who was now practicing his strikes against a heavy bag. "Heeeeeey, Ren. What's up?" Jaune began with a doofy grin on his face, Ren stopping his kick and staring at the ceiling.

"...Tiles." Ren said rather bluntly, Jaune sighing and burying his face in the heavy bag.

"I'm meant what's happening." Jaune replied, somewhat muffled.

"Oh. Well, I'm kicking." Ren replied, Jaune resisting the urge to groan.

"This is impossible…" he muttered.

"Kicking is not impossible, Jaune. I'm pretty good at it." Ren answered back, kicking the heavy bag once more, knocking Jaune back with the force of his kick. "AHH! Damn it!" Jaune cried as he hit the soft padding on the floor. "I MEANT… HOW.. ARE… YOU.. DOING!?" Jaune shouted, exasperated.

"Oh, well…. I'm kicking…" Ren said innocently, Jaune facepalming before Pyrrha and Nora walked over to try and ease the tension.

"What Jaune means is how are you feeling right now, Ren?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well… I've been pretty healthy today. Thank you for asking, Jaune." Ren said, his speech patterns slowly becoming more natural. "So, you were talking with Ruby and Nora about Aura earlier. I would've said more, but I was in a trance. I get that way when I'm deeply focused in training." he continued.

"Yeah… about that… I was wondering if you'd be willing to train me in channeling Aura. I've heard you're good at it." Jaune said, Nora letting out a loud "Ha!" and grabbing Ren's head in her arm.

"Good? Ren's the best! He's been training me on using Aura for years!" she exclaimed, Ren blinking.

"Let go of my head, Nora." Ren said bluntly, Pyrrha rubbing her chin a bit.

"Something on your mind, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, noticing the faraway look in her eye.

"Well, it might take a bit of work, but I think I know a place where we can all train together. You up for it, Jaune?" she asked, Jaune nodding.

"Of course! Train with you guys? Why would I not take up that offer?" he said, Pyrrha smiling and turning to Ren and Nora, Ren still struggling to escape her grip.

"How about it, guys?" Pyrrha asked, stretching her arm out, with her hand flat. Jaune placed his hand atop hers, smiling.

"Alright! Training Buddies!" Nora exclaimed, letting go of Ren and placing her hand on theirs.

"Well… I guess it wouldn't hurt." Ren said, joining hands with them. A fifth, bandaged hand landed on the pile.

"Yeah! Team… uhh… us!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly, getting nothing by blank stares from the others. "Ehehehehehe… I didn't have a team name ready on short notice..." Ruby said, rubbing the back of her head with her undamaged hand.

"Ruby, your enthusiasm is welcome, but I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to do anything physical while still recovering from your burns." Pyrrha said, Ruby groaning a bit. "Sorry, Ruby. We just don't want you to get hurt. Don't worry, I'll see about bringing you a gift, okay?" Pyrrha offered, Ruby smiling a bit.

"Okay… oh man! Where does the time go? It's almost dinner time! I'd better get going before Yang takes all the pizza!" Ruby exclaimed, running off.

"Dinner sounds good, I'm starving!" Nora said, grabbing Ren's arm and dragging him away.

"Mhm. You coming, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked as she walked towards the door.

"Sure, just let me finish taking notes." Jaune said, grabbing his notebook and pencil. Pyrrha smiled, leaving the gym and leaving Jaune alone to finish taking notes.


	19. Arc of Triumph, Part 1

Jaune took heaving breaths, barely able to hold his training sword as his strength had left him. "Okay… got get back into-" Jaune said, his words getting cut off by a hard kick to his side, sending the would-be Huntsman to the floor. Cardin stood over his fallen opponent with a smirk.

"Out of steam already, Arc? It's only been 10 minutes and you look like you ran a marathon and a half." Cardin said as Jaune staggered to his feet.

"Anh… I can… I can take you…" Jaune said between pitched breaths, charging at Cardin again only to be caught by the throat and lifted off his feet. Cardin had discarded his training weapon early on in the fight but hardly needed it to manhandle Jaune. Cardin quickly bent his knee, slamming Jaune's back onto the point of his knee.

"Game over, Arc!" Cardin said, letting Jaune fall as the gathered students gave a polite applause.

"Ha ha! Most impressive, Cardin! A great combination of skill and concentration! That is the essence of domination! Power and speed put together to make a fighting machine!" Professor Port said, patting Cardin on the back.

"Thanks, Professor Port. But Grimm aren't like Jaune, right?" Cardin asked, Port chuckling and nodding.

"Indeed, Grimm are not like us and it would be ill-advised to fight them hand-to-hand. Along with that, Jaune made a critical error during the fight. Now class, what was that error?" Port asked, several hands rising as he looked them over.

"Ms. Nikos!" he called, the hands dropping as Pyrrha cleared her throat.

"He didn't put up a guard in his fighting stance, making him open to hits. Along with that, he also charged in recklessly in plain sight of Cardin, making him easy to counter." she explained, Port nodding and rubbing his chin.

"Correct! One needs to assess the attack of their opponent and properly defend against it. Mr. Winchester could see all of Jaune's attacks and could properly counter each one. Of course, Jaune also turned himself into a sitting duck, not finding proper cover or going on the evasive when he was unable to properly defend himself." Port continued until the bell rang, Jaune sighing as the class filed out.

Pyrrha walked over, offering him a hand. "No one's perfect on the first go, Jaune. You're at a school to learn, aren't you?" she asked as she helped him up.

"Yeah… but I think the lessons aren't really, anh… helping me, ya know?" Jaune replied, Pyrrha smiling and walking off.

"Well, you're in luck because today's an off day for us. You know what that means, right?" she said, Jaune shaking his head.

"Not really, no." he replied. Before Pyrrha could answer, Jaune was tackled to the floor by an oncoming Nora, who had leapt from a nearby locker. "ACK! Nora! What are you doing?!" Jaune exclaimed as they hit the marble.

"Surprise attack! You gotta keep your eyes open at all times or else a Beowolf could jump out of anywhere and tear your throat out!" she answered, pulling Jaune back up.

Can I have my locker back now, Nora?" Ren asked as he walked over to the group, Nora nodding her head as he rearranged his backpack.

"Ah, good. The team's all here. I'm guessing you both are ready for our first training session?" Pyrrha asked, Nora giving a salute, dropping Jaune back onto the floor.

"I'm physically and mentally prepared for this." Ren said, helping Jaune back up.

"Alright! To the gym! Let's tell the sky he has to go home!" Pyrrha exclaimed, everyone staring at her, Jaune's head tilted slightly.

"...What?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of her head.

"Sorry, when I get excited I emulate my trainer, Mr. Ritters. Like I said, he was an eccentric man." Pyrrha said as she walked, the others following her to the gym. Nora rooted around in her bag, throwing black shirts to everyone, Ren and Pyrrha catching theirs in their hand while Jaune caught his with his face.

"What the heck are these?" Jaune pulling the shirt off his face and looking it over. On the shirt was a small, cartoonish Nora striking a massive anvil with Magnhild, which looked to be accurate to the hammer's actual size and now looked even more ridiculous that a tiny Nora could wield it. The anvil was being held up by equally cartoonish depictions of Jaune, Pyrrha and Ren, the tiny Jaune having a strained face as if he was about to pass out. On the anvil in massive letters is "ANVL" with the group's surnames running down the anvil underneath the letters. "...How long did it take you to make this, Nora?" Jaune asked.

"Six days! I was gonna have Ren make it, but all he did was the basic design and a lens flare that looked really lame!" Nora said, putting on her shirt.

"It saved ink and allowed it to be mass produced. It's efficient, dammit." Ren shot back as they entered the gymnasium.

Pyrrha pulled out a three-ring binder, opening it up and looking over a schedule of various training sessions, bullet-pointed and written in neat, legible print. "Okay then, Jaune. Today's first lesson is your footwork." she said, the group coming to a stop.

"Footwork? Why would I need to focus on my- WAAAAAAAH!" Jaune exclaimed as he suddenly felt his feet leave the floor, his back hitting the gym mat. He turned to see Ren in a kneeling position with one leg outstretched.

"A statue with a weak base will fall like a paper dragon in the rain." Ren said calming, returning to a standing position.

"And then there's your conditioning. Hate to say it, Jaune. But you're like a cookie drowning in the bottom of the milk glass. Squishy and kinda gross…" Nora added as Pyrrha helped Jaune back up.

"You know, I understand I'm not in the best of shape but your comparison to cookies offends me somehow." Jaune said in a tone between confusion and irritation.

"So today's challenge is simple! Don't fall down for one minute." Pyrrha said, Jaune raising a finger to ask a question only to be quickly answered with a quick shove from behind by Nora, Pyrrha quickly ducking and causing the blonde fledgling Huntsman to tumble over her and onto his back.

"Oh… I get it now…" he said, slowly getting up and getting a quick kick under the chin from Ren, knocking him back down. "Ow! Come on! At least let me get up!"

"Come on, Jaune! You wanna be a turtle? This ain't turtle class, Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted, her voice taking on a weird inflection which Jaune theorized was based on Mr. Ritters. "You can't lay eggs on the beach and hope for the best!" she shouted as Jaune got up.

"Okay, you two. Hold your fire! We're not gonna teach Jaune anything by beating him up!" the redhead champion ordered, Ren and Nora standing back. "The most important thing about fighting isn't about how strong you are, nor is it about how good you actually are with the sword, it's the foundation. Having good legwork will mean you will never be caught in a position where you can't move out of way in time, you'll move quicker, and be able to fight on your feet and maintain your balance so you can take hits without staggering back, leaving you open. That's what happened with you and Cardin, he knocked you off balance and he got a free hit on you." Pyrrha explained, Jaune remembering how often Cardin shoulder checked his shield and causing him to open his guard.

"...Okay, i think I got it." he said, nodding a bit.

"Good, you're understanding the basics. Now! Fallen Tower!" Pyrrha shouted, Jaune seeing Nora rush at her, Ren coming from behind, the two connecting with a legsweep from Ren and a jumping uppercut from Nora, sending Jaune flipping in mid-air, landing face first.

"This is gonna be a painful lesson, isn't it?" Jaune asked, muffled by the mat.

"Don't worry, Jaune. Mr. Ritters broke my leg in my first lesson with him. You'll hopefully walk out under your own power." she replied, Jaune not feeling very convinced that was true as he got back up.

For the half hour to follow, Jaune's three teachers found new and various ways to take him off his feet. Ren used a series of kicks and chops aimed at his legs, sides and head. Pyrrha opted for targeting the legs with stomps or applying a sleeper to put him out, though his history of being put in every submission hold imaginable by his sister made him particularly resistant to this. Nora went for just straight tossing him and applying what she called the "Thunder Drop Elbow" an elbow pointed directly at his forehead. Between each attack was them imparting some form of wisdom on the intricacies of proper footwork. "You really should stand on your toes when you fight, it will let you move quicker, that's where the term 'flat footed' comes from. Widen your legs so you don't lose balance when you swing, but don't forget to put most of your weight on your leading foot so you can take a hit without losing balance, use your body and legs to brace for hits, make sure you keep your shield facing them at all times so your weapon arm will have the longest swinging arc, no pun intended." Pyrrha explained, writing into a notebook

"...Could you repeat that?" Jaune asked as Nora wrapped her arm around Jaune's chest, lifting him off the ground and slamming him back down.

"I'm putting notes down for you later. Here's another tip; keep your focus not on your opponent's body, but their eyes. You can always see where they are going to attack you. Just make sure to not do it when they're not attacking. They'll pick up on that and start focusing on your eyes and then it just turns into a staring contest." she said, Jaune taking it in as he got back up. "Ready?" Pyrrha asked Jaune, who just quietly nodded his head. Pyrrha reached up to click a timer on her wrist, setting it to countdown from one minute.

"Go!" Pyrrha shouted as Jaune lifted his shield yet again, then dashed at him, leaping into the air and planting both feet onto his buckler. Jaune stepped back, pressing a foot into the mat behind him and leaning forward when Pyrrha suddenly kicked off him with another foot, making him stumble back some when he felt Nora ducking down to trip his legs, he hopped gently, stomping onto her back and mashing her face into the ground to regain his footing, when Ren slipped past underneath his arm, getting past the shield and smashing Jaune's face and chest in a flurry of quick blows. Jaune gasped for air as the needle like strikes hit him in the ribs making it hard to breathe, but then Pyrrha wrapped her arms around his waist. "Suplexing!" She shouted, deadlifting Jaune from behind and preparing to slam him on his shoulders, but at the last second, he broke free and did a backflip to land back on his feet with Pyrrha landing on the ground in front of him. Nora was back up, charging straight at him for a tackle when Jaune, now standing on his toes dodged to the right at the last second, making her run her head through the drywall, briefly incapacitating her.

Jaune took a quick breath, putting his face behind the shield leaving nothing but his eyes peering over it, bangs almost covering the death glare he had at Ren. Jaune didn't know how much time was left, but it was him and Ren for the remainder of the minute since Pyrrha got the wind blown out of her and Nora was currently on a date with the wall. Jaune tossed his shield to the ground, making it ring and softly spin on the ground like he dropped a frying pan. For Jaune, this moment felt like a half hour, which is stupid because it was still like 5 seconds. Jaune let Ren charge at him, his lightning fast hits were effectively tanked by Jaune just soaking it, his slow haymakers completely missing Ren and giving him opening for even more hits, so many hits in fact that his hands began to blur, each strike of his fingertips making his body explode in pain, he felt his knees buckled and felt himself stumble back, the nearly 100 hits landing in under 20 seconds when suddenly…

Beep! "Time!" Pyrrha shouted as Jaune stumbled, falling onto his ass with a dull thud of the mat he was standing on top of.

"I uhh.. I did it kinda?" Jaune said, feeling pain in his everything.

"Mhm. You've done quite well. Not many can hold against the 100 Strikes that well on their first go. Your endurance is your strongest part." Ren said, Jaune nodding in understanding. He'd always remember falling off tree branches at home and just getting back up.

"Nice dodge, Jaune!" Nora exclaimed, head covered in drywall dust.

"It seems you have a lot more potential than your fight with Cardin let on." Pyrrha added, Jaune smiling through shallow breaths.

"Aww, thanks guys. I'm just glad that-" Jaune said as he spotted Ruby's head poking out from the hole Nora left in the wall.

"Uhh… Why did Nora's head go through the wall?" Ruby asked from the other room where she was working on one-handed scything to no avail, sand from her cut open power bag still pouring onto her head. Jaune, Nora and Pyrrha burst out laughing at Ruby's bewilderment. Even Ren cracked a smile as he and Nora helped Jaune up, each taking an arm over their shoulders as they walked off.

"Alright, so we should have enough time to get something to eat if we get to the cafeteria quickly." Pyrrha said, the team thinking over what they wanted when they heard a scream from nearby. The source of the scream came from the second-year rabbit Faunus, who was being carried by Cardin, Sky and Russell..

"Sir! Please let go!" she begged as they shoved her into a nearby trash barrel.

"Hah! Always good to take out the trash, eh boys?" Cardin said, dusting off his hands and chuckling at his own joke. Jaune pulled himself off Ren and Nora, walking over to Cardin and getting right in his face, collecting as much courage and strength as his body held with each step.

"Leave her alone, Cardin." he said with all the intimidation he could muster, Cardin scoffing and turning to his friends with a "can-you-believe-this-guy" face.

"Or what? You gonna fight me, Arc?" Cardin said, getting closer to Jaune and giving him a hard shove to the floor. As Jaune got back to his feet, the rest of his teammates joined him, Nora cracking her knuckles with a gleeful smile while Ren helped him back up.

"How about we make this even, Cardin?" Pyrrha said, putting up her fists and flashing a confident smile. Cardin readied his fist for a punch only to be stopped by Russell who started whispering something into his ear.

"Huh? You serious, Russ?" Cardin asked, his buzzcut friend nodding and doing a bit more whispering. Cardin smirked, letting out a quick, scoffing laugh before walking off. "Alright, we'll stand down. We gotta get something to eat anyway. C'mon, boys." he said, Russ and Sky following after him. Pyrrha walked over, helping Velvet out of the trash barrel.

"Thank you, guys. I was going to meet the rest of my team today, but they haven't shown up." Velvet said, brushing pieces of stray garbage off her body, her ears drooping slightly as she sighed. "I just wish Cardin would leave me alone…" she muttered, looking down from her saviors and to the floor.

"He's only targeting you because he knows he's affecting you. Ignore him and he'll lose interest." Ren said bluntly, catching everyone else off guard.

"Ren! That's an awful thing to say! You're saying that like Cardin bullying Velvet is her fault!" Pyrrha exclaimed.

"Pyrrha's right. The only one to blame for this is Cardin. Besides, you've heard how he talks in the dorms. His family hates Fauni," Jaune added, Velvet nodding.

"Blake told me about that. The Winchester family has a history of enslaving Fauni and Cardin's uncle fought in the Faunus War as a guard of a Faunus prison." Velvet said. Pyrrha cleared her throat.

"What Velvet needs to do is speak to an authority. Tell Professor Ozpin about what Cardin is doing and he'll do something about it." she said sagely, Jaune sighing and crossing his arms.

"If only it were that easy. The Winchester family's very influential with a long line of Hunters and Cardin's too skilled to be expelled without complaint. Even if Ozpin wanted him gone, Cardin can't be kicked out without threat of his father suing the school." he said, shaking his head.

"Ooooh! I know! We'll break his legs! The tried and true Valkyrie solution of make 'em say mercy!" Nora exclaimed, cracking her neck.

"...There are so many things wrong with that plan. First off, that's assault. Second, if we did that then Cardin will just turn around and claim that we attacked him without provocation. Third, and most importantly, THAT'S ASSAULT!" Jaune said, flailing his arms a bit to emphasize the third point.

"Well… Maybe we can break his legs a little bit." Nora said quietly, Jaune sighing and muttering "Why do I try?" before turning to Velvet.

"Velvet, you want advice on how to deal with Cardin?" he asked, Velvet nodding her head. "My sister Valerie always told me that the best way to deal with a bully is to never let them know you're afraid. That's what a bully wants the most, to know that you're afraid of them. That they have power over you and will hurt you to assert that power. If they ever come bother you, stand your ground. You can't let them push you around. You gotta be strong, okay?" he said, giving her a pat on the shoulder, putting an arm around her and giving her a half-hug. Velvet wrapped her arms around Jaune, tears running down her cheeks.

"Th-thank you!" she said, her face buried in his shoulder, Jaune patting her back somewhat awkwardly.

"You're… you're welcome." he said, standing there in silence for several minutes before they eventually broke away. "I… uh… I think that's enough hugging, right?" Jaune said, chuckling a bit nervously, Velvet smiling and wiping her eyes.

"Well, I'd better get going. I need to find my teammates." Velvet said, running out of the gym.

"Well, well! Looks like Jaune's trapped a bunny!" Nora exclaimed, giving the blonde a slap on the back. Ren gave her a firm poke in the side with his elbow, Nora chuckling a bit. "Eheheheh, bad phrasing…" she said, not noticing the growing redness of Jaune's face behind her as she rubbed the back of her head. Pyrrha laughed a bit before walking off.

"C'mon, guys. It's getting late and dinner time's almost over." she said, Nora quickly running past her.

"Last one there gets the smallest cut of steak!" Nora exclaimed, Ren giving an exasperated cry of

"Nora!" before chasing after her.

"You think you can walk under your own power, loverboy?" Pyrrha teased, heading out of the gym.

"PYRRHA!" Jaune shouted, chasing after her with a face as red as her hair.


	20. Arc of Triumph, Part 2

"And to close out today's study on minuscule Grimm are the Rapier Wasps. They are considered one of the most dangerous species of Grimm in the recorded history of Remnant." said Professor Oobleck, a man whose appearance betrayed his status as a brilliant researcher in the field of Grimm study. His messy hair was dyed a leafy green ("Camouflage! This hair can allow me to hide among the many trees of the forests Grimm are known to reside in!" he'd exclaim if asked about it.) and he had brown eyes hidden behind round, opaque glasses. He was clad in a barely tucked in white shirt, a loose yellow tie, dark green pants and mismatched brown and black shoes. Every time students saw him in the halls, they would wonder how a slovenly, deranged individual got a position in such a prestigious combat academy.

...Until they entered his classroom which was lined with several cages of captured and dissected Grimm, skulls and bones on the wall with various notes on the time and place of the Grimm's capture, relative size to other Grimm and odd anecdotes such as what Professor Oobleck had ate that morning or how many trees the Grimm had taken down. "This is for three reasons. Reason one is due to its small size making it hard to kill with conventional Hunter's weaponry. In the event of a Rapier Wasp attack, specially trained Hunters known as Fireflies are sent out, armed with dust-powered flamethrowers. Dust-powered flamethrowers!" he repeated, taking a gulp of his thermos, wiping off his mouth on his sleeve. "Reason two is due to their sharp needles and quick-working venom. Curiously, their moniker of Rapier Wasps is more of a misnomer, as their stingers are more triangular. And Dagger Wasps would be a much more apt name for it, but the committee didn't listen to my appeal!" he said, hearing the frantic scratching of pencils crossing off notes on "Dagger Wasps"

"And the most important factor to their status as highly dangerous is that their humming has the ability to draw other, larger Grimm closer to them. It's best to take them out quickly before a pack of Ursi are drawn by their calls." the green-haired professor said with a somewhat grave tone in his voice. "Now then, are there any questions?" he asked, a few students raising their hands. "Mr. Lark!" he said, pointing to Sky.

"Is that box on your desk full of Rapier Wasps?" Sky asked, referring to a small, covered box on Oobleck's desk.

"Good eye, dear boy! Why yes, I have managed to procure a small group of them for dissection and study. This special fabric is designed to suppress sound, keeping the hum of the wasps trapped within. Yes, Mr. Arc?" he asked, Jaune putting his arm down.

"But wouldn't the Rapier Wasps just die in the box?" he asked, Professor Oobleck pushing his glasses up by the bridge of his nose.

"A good question, Mr. Arc! Yes, a concealed box would otherwise kill an insect, Rapier Wasps thrive in darkness so a dark living space such as this box could keep them in here for several years!" he exclaimed, the class bell sounding. "And that's all the time we have for today. Before you leave, only final piece of information regarding Rapier Wasps. Unlike many Grimm who are drawn by blood and panic, Rapier Wasps have a curious attraction to sweet smells!" Professor Oobleck declared as the students packed up their bags, Cardin turning to Sky and nodding his head, the two smiling as Cardin walked over to Professor Oobleck.

Jaune made his way to the gym. It had been a week since Team ANVL began training together and Jaune had already been taught footwork, physical conditioning and some of the basics of swordplay. He looked over the copy of the schedule Pyrrha had given him, seeing that today's lesson was going to be Meditation. "Meditation, huh? Well, at least Nora won't be trying to throw me across the gym today…" Jaune said as he stepped into the gym, seeing the rest of Team ANVL gathered around a collection of yoga mats.

"Jaune! Over here!" Nora called out, Jaune running to meet them.

"Ren's going to be teaching today since he's the best of us in meditation." Pyrrha explained as she took one of the mats for herself, Nora having claimed five of them as her own. Jaune sat down on one of the remaining mats, turning his attention to Ren.

"Meditation is the glue that holds together any sort of training, whether it be training to be a Hunter or training for a fighting tournament. It is the merging of mind and body in perfect synchronization and it allows a person to channel their Aura as they see fit. Now, find yourself in a comfortable sitting position and close your eyes." Ren instructed, Pyrrha putting herself in a cross-legged position, Nora quickly shifting to a kneel and Jaune remaining with his butt flat on the mat, all three shutting their eyes. As they sat, a soft, ambient music with what could be best described as "distant yodeling" from a woman played. "Dull your senses and focus only on your breathing, lose yourself in it and begin to find your center." Ren said, his monotonous voice sounding rather soothing as Jaune took slow, deliberate breaths to the the rhythm of the music. He slowly began to feel adrift in a sea of darkness but surrounding by a faint glow of white light when a loud call pierced through the darkness.

"Hey! Blondie!" the woman's voice called out, Jaune quickly opening his eyes to see a pair of dark brown eyes staring him down.

"Ahhh! Don't do that!" he shouted, moving himself away from the woman with shoulder length hair which was a matching brown to her eyes. She was clad in black training shorts with white lining, a cocoa-colored tank top with "CFVY" written across the chest in black letters, black grappling gloves and black ankle supports. She lifted the black sunglasses back up the bridge of her nose.

"So, you're the one Velvet told us about, eh? Not much of my type, but there's no accounting for taste!" the woman said, letting out a hearty laugh as Velvet ran up to her, wearing matching gear with a dark brown tank top..

"Coco! I told you to wait for us!" she said, exasperated. "I'm sorry, you guys. I had told my team about you guys helping me and Coco wanted to thank you in person." Velvet explained as two more had joined the group, two young men who looked to be complete opposites. The boy on the left was of average height with messy, fringed copper orange hair, green eyes and dark tan skin, wearing an orange tank top. He had a skinny frame but well-defined muscle mass. To the right was a man who overshadowed the other seven around him. He had lightly tanned skin, shaved black hair, beady black eyes and abs that threatened to tear through his pale green "CFVY" tank top, Jaune grimacing at the sight of this.

"Damn it, why does everybody have abs?" he muttered, Velvet turning a turning a slight red. "Oh! Uh… I mean, er…" Jaune stuttered out, trying to salvage the meeting when Velvet waved him off.

"N-nevermind! I'm good! J-Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren. I'd like you all to m-meet my teammates in-" Velvet began before Coco pushed her along between the other two.

"This right here is Daichi Yatsuhashi. He's seven foot tall and you can't. Teach! _That_!" Coco said, waving her finger from side to side in the rhythm of her speech, Yatsuhashi quickly bowing to Team ANVL. "Then of course, you've already met the Cross-Hare, Velvet Scarlatina!" Coco said, pointing to Velvet with a collective of groans.

"You've been hanging around Yang, haven't you?" Jaune asked, Coco ignoring his comment.

"Next is the brains of the team. Sly as a fox and just as stylin', Fox Alistair!" she exclaimed, Fox rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, she's been hanging out with Yang too long." he said, answering Jaune's question.

"And finally! You have their fearless leader! The Head of Beacon Academy's Boxing Club and the Baddest Babe in the Building! Coco Adel!" she said, striking a pose and holding it for a minute. "...Velvet…" she said through gritted teeth, Velvet quickly scrambling into her bag to grab a camera out and run in front of her team leader, snapping a quick shot and handing the camera to Ren and running to stand next to Coco.

"And we are…" Coco said as the rest of her team shuffled around her, Yatsuhashi standing behind Coco and placing his hands in the traditional kung-fu gesture of palm-over-fist. Fox quickly bent down with one leg stretched back and, his left arm outstretched and his right pulled in, the elbow jutting out slightly. Velvet crouched down with her arms outstretched, hands clasped and forming a gun with her index, middle fingers and thumbs, one eye shut and tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth. Coco spread out her arms, holding her hands turned upright as if she were holding something in them. "TEAM CFVY!" the quartet declared. Jaune and Pyrrha stared at them in silence, mouths agape as Ren calmly took pictures.

"...That was AWESOME!" Nora exclaimed, running up to Team CFVY.

"Nora, you're blocking the shot." Ren said calmly, Nora chuckling and moving away while he continued his shots.

"Make sure you got my good side! I mean, I only have good sides, but…" Coco said, Velvet moving out of frame and over to Jaune.

"A-Anyway… We wanted to thank you all for helping me. So… uh…" Velvet began, reaching around in her bag, repeatedly muttering "please tell me I have it" repeatedly until she pulled out a small blue ticket, handing it to Jaune. He looked it over, seeing in bold lettering the words **Vytal Festival Tournament**.

"Vytal Festival Tournament?" he asked, Velvet about to speak when Coco stepped forward.

"It's the biennial intercontinental held in Vytal. Only established teams of Hunters are allowed to compete so this is our first year. And since we're in our first year, we each get two complimentary tickets!" Coco explained, Jaune nodding as he looked over his ticket.

"Mhm. I've already given one to Blake and I'd like you to come as well, Jaune… I mean, if that's alright with you, y-you don't have to go…" Velvet said, fumbling for the hood she didn't have on this shirt.

"Er… w-well, I mean…" Jaune said stumbling over his words when Pyrrha spoke up.

"Jaune would love to go, Velvet." she said, Jaune's eyes widening as he turned red.

"N-no! It's fine, Pyrrha! I mean, I'd rather you guys get a chance to-" he said as Pyrrha rifled through her training bag, pulling out two small blue tickets. "Where did you get those?" he asked, Pyrrha chuckling a bit.

"Well, I'm a special guest of the event, so I got a few tickets as well. I was actually trying to figure who to bring with me, but since you've got your own, Jaune, it makes it easier to pick. Ren? Nora?" she asked, nodding to her friends.

"Of course we'll go! This is gonna be huge!" Nora shouted, Ren calmly nodding.

"It will certainly be nice to watch a tournament rather than fight in one." he said, Coco letting out her usual hearty laugh.

"Excellent! A chance to showcase Team CFVY's skills in front of some of the best fighters in all of Remnant! Lie Ren, high-ranking martial artists and the winner of this year's entrance exam! Nora Valkyrie, winner of the Iron Woman Weightlifting competition for four years! Pyrrha Nikos, top ranked at Sanctum Academy and five-time Mistral Regional Champion! And… Jaune… he's an Arc!" Coco said, attempting to hold her smile as her sunglasses dropped to the bridge of her nose. Jaune's face faltered and he shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"Coco, I think we'd better get going." Fox said, sensing the growing tension in the air.

"Right! They've got their tickets and we've got training to do! Team CFVY, move out!" Coco declared and walked off, the rest of the team joining her. Velvet gave a sheepish wave goodbye, which Jaune returned, sighing. Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, Jaune. You're doing great so far in your training." she said with a smile, Jaune looking at her before shrugging off her hand.

"But I should be past this point by now…" he said glumly, walking away from the rest of Team ANVL and leaving the gym.

He walked down the halls, heading for his locker. "What am I doing here? All these other people here are so much better than me… I'm just wasting my time…" he said, making it to his locker and punching in his password, opening it up and stuffing his backpack, looking at the picture on his locker door of a large group of people, mostly young women, a mix of blonde and black hair with Jaune in the middle. Jaune pulled the picture off, putting in his pocket and shutting the locker door. "Maybe I can do a little work somewhere to buy a ticket back to Patch…" he muttered, turning to see Russell behind him.

"Hey Jaune, spotted you leaving the gym. What's up, man?" he asked, Jaune blinking a bit and turning to check for Cardin or Sky around the corner.

"What do you want? Cardin wanna get in one last beating before I leave Beacon?" Jaune shot back, Russell making a quick step back.

"Whoa, whoa! Jaune, I'm not here to cause trouble, man. You're leaving Beacon? How come?" Russell said, looking concerned.

"Why do you care? Thought you'd be happy to be rid of me." Jaune countered, still suspicious of Russell's sympathy.

"Jaune, calm down. I've been talking with Dove and he's been saying we're probably gonna get expelled if we don't shape up our act and he's right. So, I wanted to apologize for how we've roughhoused you. It was meant to be a bit of harmless fun between dudes, ya know?" the buzz-cut young man said, patting Jaune on the shoulder, Jaune quickly pulling his shoulder away.

"Look, if you really want to know, I'm leaving because I don't belong here. I'm a failure. I may as well go home and stop wasting everyone's time." he explained, putting on his backpack and making a move for the door.

"Maybe it's not you, Jaune. Maybe it's your training buddies." Russell said, Jaune stopping and turning to face Cardin's lackey.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" he asked, Russell smiling and leaning against a locker.

"The way I see it is this; you got one of the strongest women in Remnant, a once in a century martial artist and a five-time fighting champion and you're not learning anything. Why do you think that is, Jaune?" Russell asked, Jaune sighing and looking down.

"It's because I'm a failure, right?" Jaune said, feeling no better than he would if Russell had started attacking him.

"Or maybe the others are threatened by you…" Russell suggested, the blonde rookie looking up in confusion.

"Threatened by me? Why would they be threatened by a guy who can't even use his Semblance?" he asked, Russell chuckling a bit.

"Because you're an Arc. You got, what, five, six generations of Hunters in your family?" he said, Jaune mentally counting how far back his family tree went.

"Seven generations, starting back with my great-great-great… uh...how many greats between the first one and me?" Jaune asked, Russell giving a wave of his hand.

"Doesn't matter, you're not the first of your family and you could be the next great Huntsman in your family and they don't like that. They're insulted that they've gotten all this acclaim and yet you're probably gonna be one of the best Huntsmen out of all of them." the buzz-cut troublemaker said, putting an arm around Jaune's shoulder.

"But you see, Cardin isn't threatened by others. He's a Winchester and he knows talent when he sees it. That's why he gives you a hard time. He wants to toughen you up and make you work harder. It's proven by drill sergeants and it was even how Cardin was trained back at home. Those ANVL guys just want to keep you soft so you don't outpace them and stay their punching bag, having someone they can pity will probably bolster their confidence." he said, Jaune thinking it over. Was he just a punching bag to them? He thought of his lessons, which required him to take a beating and stay standing, then take suplexes for several minutes from Nora…maybe Russell had the right idea, but the idea of Cardin being a better option didn't click with him.

"What about what you guys did to Velvet? Or the time Cardin broke Blake's nose?" he asked, Russell laughing.

"That first one was just a joke, man. You keep yourself that tightly wound about everything and you're gonna have a heart attack. As for Blake's nose, that was an accident. Cardin apologized for that weeks ago." Russell said with a grin, pulling Jaune in closer as the blonde started pulling away. "Look, give him a chance. We're going to the Golden Apple tonight, Cardin's treat. It's a great place, serves some of the best barbecue. Spend the night with us and see if you like it. All I gotta say is hope ya like ribs!" he offered, Jaune thinking it over. He and Cardin had never really gotten along, but Russell had raised some good questions about his friends, or at least what he saw as his friends.

"Well… I am a bit hungry for something other than school food." Jaune said, Russell grinning wide and giving Jaune a pat on the back.

"That's the spirit! See ya in five, gotta tell Cardin you're joining the fun!" Russell said as he ran off, Jaune waving him off and hoping he had made the right decision.


	21. Arc of Triumph, Part 3

Jaune stood outside by the school gate, having gathered what little money he had in his wallet as he waited for Cardin and his crew, thinking over whether he should stay at Beacon and if he did, would training with Cardin be any better? "I mean, I'm used to be a bit of tough love from home... but what if I just end up falling behind them too? Do I really belong here?" he asked to no one, letting the question ring out into the late evening, hearing the sound of incoming footsteps. He looked to see Cardin, backed by his posse, who quickly grabbed in for a noogie.

"Hey, Jaune! Glad you came around! You and us, Jaune, we're gonna have a good time!" Cardin said with a gleeful tone and matching smile. It was surreal to Jaune to see the guy who ruled the roost in their dorms treating him like they had been friends since childhood.

"Anh… figured I'd at least try and enjoy myself before I leave Vale, right?" Jaune said, attempting to free himself from Cardin's grip as Cardin fished around, grabbing his ID card and swiping it.

"Student ID Accepted. Cardin Winchester, Year 1. All accompanying students please swipe your cards." The machine said in its usual chipper tone. Cardin let go of Jaune.

"You're up first, buddy." Cardin said, giving him a firm pat on the shoulder. Jaune nodded, swiping his card, followed by Dove, then Sky and Russell ending the line-up. After a few seconds, the machine beeped multiple times before chiming up.

"Student IDs Accepted. Jaune Arc, Year 1. Dove Bronzewing, Year 1. Sky Lark, Year 1. Russell Thrush, Year 1. Have a nice -evening-, -Cardin-, -Jaune-, -Dove-, -Sky- and -Russell-." the machine said, forcefully pronouncing each of their names as the gate unlocked, the quintet heading down the street.

As they walked through the near-pitch blackness of evening, Jaune could see a pair of headlights moving closer and closer towards them. Soon the headlights revealed a white limousine which came to a stop in front of Cardin, Jaune left wide-eyed in amazement. "Hop in, boys. Doing a bit of splurging tonight for our new friend." Cardin said with a pearly white grin flashing through the darkness.

"...This is yours?" Jaune asked, still in shock.

"Eh, just a quick rental for tonight, ya know? Dad's been pulling on the wallet chain these days but I had enough to cover travel for tonight. You guys may need to cover the bill. And I mean it this time, Sky. No dine and dashing." Cardin said, pointing an accusatory at his dark-haired friend, who shrugged innocently and climbed in, Russell joining him while Jaune slowly climbed into the back seat, sitting between Russell and Sky on his left and Cardin and Dove joining on his right.

The inside of the limo was quite a sight. A row of brown leather wraparound seats going along one side, cherry red carpeting on the floor, velvet lining on the walls where the windows would be and dust powered color-changing lights along the top. A small fridge sat on the far side of the seats, Sky opening up the fridge and seeing cans of different soft drinks, which he tossed to the others. A dark tinted window hid the driver from view, an intercom device beneath the window allowing the others to communicate with them. "Want some soda, Jaune? Maybe a bag of chips?" Sky asked as he began to tear open of potato chips with his teeth, Jaune sitting there with a disbelieving expression.

"...This seems like a lot just for a prank, guys. I mean, you couldn't just stuff me in a locker and be done with it?" he asked, the others taking on a look as if Jaune had released a large, noxious fart in the limo.

"Jaune, I'm hurt. You'd think I would go through all this just for some prank? We're treating you to dinner out of the kindness of our hearts." Cardin said, Jaune still unsure if his behavior was genuine.

"Yeah, Jaune. I mean, did Nikos ever rent out a limo for you? I mean, she's loaded… not saying you're poor, Cardin, but a woman with a cereal box cover deal isn't gonna be cash-strapped either." Russell added, Jaune blinking a bit.

"Pyrrha says she'd rather not draw unnecessary attention by bringing a limo to school." he argued, a derisive laughter coming from the pack.

"Yeah, world famous fighter with a line of merch wants to keep a low profile. She told you that because she doesn't want to give you anything but false hope." Russell said, continuing his rather harsh assessment of Pyrrha's character. "But Cardin's a giving man. You stick with us, Jaune, and you'll have more in a month than you did in all your life." he said, tossing a can of soda to Jaune.

"Try to eat light, we're only a few minutes away from the Golden Apple." Cardin said, taking a swig of his soda and letting out a belch. Jaune, noticing Dove had been silent the whole trip, turned to him.

"So… how did you meet Cardin?" he asked, wanting to get his thoughts on the supposedly great Cardin Winchester.

"Well, my family had sworn fealty to the Winchesters some couple of decades ago, so I've known him since childhood." Dove explained politely, before Jaune could ask any further questions, a ceiling panel opened up revealing a rotating disco ball, the color-changing lights going off and hitting the ball, assaulting Jaune's eyesight immediately. He let out a yelp as a funky beat blared out through unveiled speakers, drowning things out briefly when Cardin angrily got up.

"Damn it, Sky! I have to pay for that party button! Get your head away from the wall!" he exclaimed, slamming down on the button by Sky's head. The music stopped, the color-changing lights and the disco ball stopping and sliding back into its hidden compartment. Jaune's eyes regained sight to see Cardin about to throttle Sky, Dove holding him back while Russell slinked over to the door, opening it up.

"Guys! Guys!" he shouted, trying to get the others' attention. Cardin stopped, letting Sky go and turning to his buzz-cut friend's voice. "We're here. Come on, let's get in before all the good seats are taken. I wanna get a good look at the barmaid." Russell said, opening the door and leading the others out of the limo. The five climbed out in order, Jaune looking upon a well-sized building with a large neon sign reading "GOLDEN APPLE: Bar & Grill" with a giant golden neon apple that had bite marks in it.

"Wait, aren't we a bit too young to drink?" Jaune asked, Sky chuckling and patting him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, man. They got food here." he said as they walked up to the doorman, a young man with gray hair and blue eyes wearing a gray and black two-tone zip jacket and black pants leaning against the nearby wall.

"You got your ID?" he asked Jaune, who quickly looked to see if he still had his card when Cardin spoke up.

"He's with us, Merc. Hey, you ever gonna take care of that hair problem, you got?" he asked jokingly.

"I ain't got a hair problem, Cardin. The ladies love a touch of gray." the doorman replied with a smirk to match Cardin's.

"Yeah, but you don't have a touch of gray." Sky said. "It's like you went on a date with a bottle of peroxide. You should go with what I've got. Jet black, the ladies can't get enough of it." he continued Merc chuckling and opening the door.

"Go on ahead, boys. Just don't cause too much trouble." he said with a smile as Cardin lead his assembled posse into the bar. The smell of cooked meat and cold beer hit Jaune's nose quickly, an inviting aroma that helped give off a warm presence to the bar. Jaune looked around at the room which had a heavy focus on wood, making it look a lot like a log cabin. Servers walked around with trays of food and drink to patrons at stools and booth tables. There was a game corner with arcade machines, gambling and pool tables. A big screen TV stood on the back wall, playing the latest VWA show where Diana Hunter was wrestling Jogumo in the semi main event. At the bar was a woman with long blonde hair with a red streak and amber eyes wearing a white t-shirt, tan leather jacket and brown fingerless leather gloves.

"You guys find us a table, I'm gonna go talk with Eris." Cardin said with a gleam in his eye heading up to the bar while Russell lead the others to a table, taking a seat next to Sky while Jaune sat next to Dove, who placed the winter jacket he had been wearing onto the empty seat. Jaune looked down the menu which was a single sheet with one side of drinks and another side of food. As Jaune contemplated his order, a woman with medium-brown skin, blonde hair with a green streak and hazel eyes walked over, putting down a large plate of ribs. She was wearing an olive tank top, brown pants and black high-heeled shoes, a small pad of paper clipped to her belt and a pen behind her ear.. "Tonight's special, boys. Compliments of Eris." the waitress said, unclipping the notepad and grabbing the pen. "So, what are you thirsty for?" she asked.

"Besides you?" Sky asked flirtatiously, eliciting groans from the rest of the table and an eye-roll from the waitress.

"Sky, I swear I'm gonna pop you. Bad enough when Mercury does it…" she muttered, turning to Russell who ordered a bottle of Atlas Mountain Ale, Dove and Sky asking for the same. "And you, new guy?" the waitress asked.

"I'll just have some apple cider… say, haven't I seen you at Beacon?" he asked, the waitress writing down the order.

"Yeah, me and Merc study there but since we're not able to do missions without a team, we're making some money on the side by working here." she said, putting the pen back behind her ear and the notepad back on the clip. She left and came back with the drinks, everyone grabbing a piece of rib and Jaune taking a bite. The crunchy outside of the dry rubbed spices gave way to the rare meat on the inside, making it juicy but giving it a smoky, savory flavor that was complemented by the slightly bitter, yet sweet taste of apple cider.

"Wow! These are great!" Jaune said ecstatically, Sky letting out a laugh as he poured barbecue sauce onto his ribs, the bottle having a rotund man in a cowboy hat printed on it.

"He likes ribs!" Russell exclaimed, the others cheering Jaune as he ate more of the mouth-watering ribs. Jaune smiled, caught up in the good vibes he felt being there.

"This place is awesome! I can't wait to take my friends here. Nora would love it!" he said, the others going slightly quiet. "...What?" he asked, noticing their stares.

"Jaune, don't take this hard way, but perhaps it would better if they didn't know about the Golden Apple. I know they're your friends, but this has been our hangout for a while and putting Cardin and Pyrrha in the same room would probably cause a fight." Dove said calmly. "Plus allowing that tiny menace Nora in here would just result in the bar getting bulldozed to the ground." he continued, Jaune blinking.

"Well, I hadn't really thought about that…" the young blonde said as the waitress walked over to their table

"New guy," the waitress said, Jaune turning his attention to her. "Eris wants a word with you. Cardin's been talking you up over at the bar. I'd go over there and talk to her." she said with a friendly smile, nudging her head toward the bar.

"Whoa, Jaune. You get to talk with Eris? Aren't you lucky!" Sky said enviously.

"...Is uh… is that a good thing?" Jaune asked, Russell and Sky looking at him dumbfounded.

"Hell yeah it's a good thing! Eris is, like, one of the coolest people in Vale! You know that this place used to be the Bear's Den, right?" Russell asked, Jaune shaking his head. "Well, it was until a freak fire broke out and burned the whole place to the ground. That's when Eris swooped in and bought the lot real cheap. Helps that the old owner was arrested. Might've been some kind of mobster…" he said. "And in a few months it's become a hot place. She can turn your life around if you work for her, so go on and talk to her." the buzz-cut boy said, Jaune thinking a bit before turning to Dove.

"What do you think, Dove?" Jaune asked, Dove shaking his head.

"You have a lot going for you, Jaune. Bear's Den, From Dust 'Till Dawn. Small businesses like this have been getting knocked off recently and you could end up out of a job and those that leave Beacon are rarely welcomed back. Especially if they have a criminal record." Dove said, Jaune's eyes widening slightly.

"Criminal record?" he asked, Dove nodding in response.

"Eris may seem impressive, but she didn't earn the money she bought this place through legal means and you hear it from all of her frequent visitors. Rumors about her special job offers being petty theft, wetwork, smuggling. You don't want to dirty your hands doing her work." he warned, Sky giving a dismissive hand.

"Those are just rumors, like you said. Jaune would have to be an idiot not to at least give Eris a few minutes of his time. Now get your ass over there, Jaune. It's not polite to keep a lady waiting!" Sky said, putting the vote at 2-1.

Jaune slowly got up, downing his cider in one gulp, choking slightly due to the strong apple taste and dropping the glass. "Agh! Damn it!" he said between sputtering coughs and wiping his mouth off with his sleeve as he walked over to the bar where Cardin was sitting.

"Saved you a seat, buddy." Cardin said as Jaune took a seat, still coughing slightly.

"So… this is the boy you were telling me all about, Cardin?" the woman asked in a soft, sultry voice.

"Yep! Jaune Arc, eighth generation Huntsman-in-training. Jaune, this is Eris Gould, the owner of Golden Apple and the hottest woman in Remnant." Cardin said, Eris chuckling a bit.

"Cardin, you flatter me. But I'm not the important one here, am I?" she said, gently grabbing Jaune's face with both hands and looking deep into his eyes. Jaune could feel his face heating up with her soft hands against his cheeks, his knees going shaky and a twisting feeling in his stomach. However, her penetrating stare held kept him paralyzed to his stool, her amber eyes glowing faintly. "Hrm… yes, I can see it in you. You have a great deal of power within…" Eris said, Jaune faintly muttering "personal space…" the barmaid smiling and letting go of his face.

"You really are something, Jaune. Though I hear from Cardin that you may be leaving Vale?" she asked, Jaune nodding but still somewhat stunned from Eris touching his face. "Well, that's a shame. All of that potential, that strong presence of aura and it's going to be used to be a farmer. I can understand wanting to leave Beacon, but you could make good living here in Vale if you know the right people. I can find you the right people if you ever need…" she said, Jaune slowly coming to.

"Er… well… I guess it wouldn't hurt to take up a job here so I can afford a trip home…" he mumbled out, Cardin giving a hard pat on the back.

"That's the spirit, Jaune! C'mon, we better get back to the table before Sky eats all of the ribs on us!" he said as Jaune winced and slowly got up to follow Cardin.

"Don't be a stranger, you two…" Eris said with a wink as the two headed back to their table.

"Come on, Morrison! You can do it!" Sky shouted, Cardin taking a seat and turning to the TV. "Who's Rock Morrison got this time?" he asked, grabbing a couple of napkins and a piece of ribs.

"I dunno, some midcard guy." Russell said, turning to Jaune.

"So, how did your meeting with Eris go?" he asked, Jaune explaining what had happened, Russell whistling in surprise.

"Man, she's got eyes on you, Jaune. If I were you, I'd take that offer." he said, Dove clearing his throat.

"Jaune, think hard about this. I mean, you're only seventeen. You still have plenty of time to make it as a Huntsman. You can't just throw that all away to-" he began before being drowned out by the explosion of the crowd at Rock Morrison's latest victory, punctuated by a sudden blackout in the ring. When the lights went on, Rock had been laid out with a man decked in black body paint designed after a Beowolf standing over him holding the VWA Championship, the televised crowd erupting into a chant of "Bul-Let De-Mon!" as the show cut out.

After a few minutes, the plate of ribs was nothing but bones and Cardin had paid for the meal, the quintet heading out into the limo. "Look Jaune, I know you're pretty set on heading back to Patch, but maybe you ought to consider training with us instead." Cardin said bluntly, Jaune sitting back and looking up at the ceiling.

"I dunno, Cardin. I mean, I've heard you're good, but-" Jaune said, getting a snort in reply.

"Heard I'm good? I've been training since I was seven years old! I was top ranked in Sanctum and had personal training from my father and if you still think I'm a bully, I'm a damn teddy bear compared to him. Not knocking dad, he was great when weren't in his personal training quarters, but once inside he pushed me to my limits and I'll do the same for you, Jaune. Unlike Pyrrha…" he said, Jaune raising an eyebrow.

"Pyrrha's my friend. She doesn't want me to be too badly injured." Jaune said, Cardin rolling his eyes.

"Friend, eh? How can you be sure she even likes you? She probably pities you. She's a girl who grew up with PR people telling her what to say and do to make fans. What makes you so certain she isn't just using you to look better?" Russell asked, Jaune looking down and thinking it all over. Was his friendship with Pyrrha a lie? Was she just using him? Were Ren and Nora using him? He couldn't believe it, but what Russell said made some sense. His training sessions with them were painful and rarely yielded any good results. Most of his training sessions was just each of them taking turns to beat him up and tell him he was 'improving' from it. Was it all just some joke on him? He shut his eyes and breathed in deeply as the limo came to a stop.

"It's a bit late, but I don't think they'll notice. Dove, get the door." Cardin said, Dove nodding and opening the door, getting out first, the rest following suit.

Cardin swiped his ID card, the gate opening up with a warning from the device: "Please try to return to the school on time next time!" it announced, Cardin scoffing at it as they headed inside, Jaune going back to his locker to grab the rest of his stuff. Cardin playfully ruffled his hair as he walked by.

"Just think over the offer a bit before you go, Jaune!" he said as he walked off, Jaune nodding, a small smile forming on his face. Maybe Cardin wasn't as bad as people said he was. He and his friends did treat him to a good meal and offered to give him some real training. As he shut his locker door, he turned to see Pyrrha standing next to him.

"Ahh! Pyrrha! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Jaune exclaimed, caught off guard by her standing there.

"I was wondering where you had gone off to, Jaune. We were worried about you. Look, what Coco said was out of line and-" she began, Jaune holding up a hand.

"Pyrrha, I'm not that sensitive. I'm gonna be an adult soon in half a year." he said.

"Oh, that's good. Well, we've come up with some new training sessions. Ren wanted to focus on quick striking and we even made a practice dummy for you." Pyrrha said, holding up crude lump of burlap with an angry drawn-on face and a cheap orange wig stapled on.

"It's Cardin. Nora found the wig." she explained, Jaune bursting into laughter.

"Oh man, that's great!" Jaune said, holding himself up by one hand as Pyrrha joined him in laughing.

"Will you two keep it down! Some of us are trying to sleep!" Shrieked an exhausted Weiss from the doorway of her dorm, slamming it shut and eliciting further murmurs from within the dorm.

Jaune cleared his throat, the two still smiling quite a bit. "So, where have you been, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, Jaune's smile fading.

"Well… I needed some time to think about things. And whether or not I belong here or not…" he admitted, Pyrrha putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Of course you belong here. You've been studying and training hard to get here and you've been improving since you started training with us." she said. There was that word again. Improving. He was always improving but never good.

"Y-yeah, improving…" he said, Pyrrha seeing the distant look in his eyes.

"Jaune… is something wrong?" she asked, the blonde taking a deep breath before looking her in the eyes.

"Pyrrha… do you like me?" he asked, remembering what Russell had asked him in the limo. Pyrrha pulled her hand away.

"J-Jaune, I just met you! I mean, you're a nice guy and all, but like you? I… er...I think I need to go to bed. I'll see you in the morning, okay?" she said, slowly heading off with a wave, Jaune waving back.

"Oooh, that didn't go too well, did it?" Russell said with a smirk. "You gonna be okay, Jaune?" he asked, Jaune turning to see the buzz-cut troublemaker behind him.

"Did you follow me all the way here?" Jaune shot back, Russell shrugging.

"Just had a hunch is all. But that had to sting, huh buddy?" he said, Jaune turning to him.

"Russell… tell Cardin that I'm willing to take him up on his offer to train. I'm not leaving Beacon." Jaune said, a fire lighting up in his eyes, Russell smirked and patted him on the shoulder.

"Will do, Jaune. Glad to have you on board." he said, walking off for the dorm, Jaune unpacking his bag with newfound determination. He was going to stay and become a Huntsman. He was going to prove himself worthy of being here no matter what.


	22. Arc of Triumph, Part 4

Jaune woke up to a faint buzzing sound coming from the pocket of his hoodie. "Unh… 3 AM… Really?" he muttered as he forced himself up, letting out a prolonged groan and rubbing his shoulder. He flipped open his phone, yawning as answered. "Hullo?" he asked, slowly bringing himself to a sitting position as his bones felt like they had been put through a printing press.

"Morning, Jaune. You doin' alright?" Cardin asked on the other end of the line.

"Cardin… it's three in the morning and my muscles are yelling at me that I've made a horrible decision with my life, what do you want?." Jaune asked with a slight agitation in his voice.

"Whoa, calm down, buddy. Just need you to come help me with something. See, I forgot some papers back in Dr. Oobleck's office a while ago and I'm gonna need you to stay on watch for a bit. Think you can do that?" Cardin asked, Jaune barely grunting out a "yeah" as he put on his pants, shuffling his feet on the floor because his legs were refusing to lift and to keep from waking others as he stepped out of the dorm and made his way down the hall to Oobleck's office where Cardin stood at the entrance, backpack strapped on.

"Glad you could make it, Jaune. I won't be too long, but Sky's only given me a small window of time after picking the lock so I need to make sure no one spots me." he explained to a glaze-eyed Jaune.

"...Sky can pick locks?" Jaune asked, Cardin chuckling.

"Hey, give him some credit, he's not a complete idiot." Cardin said before slowly and carefully opening the door. "The signal is three knocks. If trouble comes up, just give three knocks and I'll take for the window. Better if only one of us gets caught, right?" Cardin asked, Jaune nodding while nodding off. Cardin scowled, snapping his fingers. "Stay alert, Jaune! This is important!" he said in a hushed tone, Jaune quickly opening his eyes as his new friend slid into the office. Jaune turned to watch the halls, seeing a figure moving nearby, but barely able to make it out in the darkness. The figure drew closer and closer, becoming smaller as it stepped out of the shadows.

"Jaune? Is that you? What are you doing up so late?" Ruby asked as she walked over to Jaune.

"Huh? Oh… just couldn't really sleep. A bit sore from training. How's your hand?" he asked, Ruby pulling back the sleeve to show a very light amount of bandages.

"Skin's coming back, but the nurse says I need to not use it to much for another week or so. But what have you been up to? We haven't really been able to talk very often since you kind of… vanished…" Ruby said, Jaune sighing a bit.

"It's not like I'm invisible, I've just met some new friends and haven't really adjusted to balancing between them and you guys…" he said, Ruby chuckling.

"Well, aren't we Mr. Popularity here. I mean between, me, ANVL, Velvet and your new friends… I wish I was that lucky but I feel like I'm losing more friends than I've gained." Ruby said, looking down at the floor.

"Well, I mean you got me so that's one…" Jaune said, patting her on the shoulder.

"I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as negative friend." the red-hooded girl replied.

"Ahh, there's no such thing as a negative friend. You just have one friend and one… rival, shall we say? ...What about Yang or Blake? You're still friends with them, right?" Jaune asked.

"Well, not really. Yang and I still aren't really talking after what happened on Final Harvest and Blake… well, I can't really be sure of where I stand with Blake…" she replied, sighing a bit. An awkward silence passed until Jaune eventually let up another yawn.

"Hey, Ruby… can I ask you something?" Jaune said.

"You just did." she answered with a smug grin on her face.

"...And I thought being a smartass was reserved for older sisters. Anyway, I've been wondering about what I've really been doing here. If what I'm doing, this path I'm going on and all, is the right one for me…that make sense to you?" Jaune asked, Ruby smiling.

"Not really, but the way I see it, you need to trust what your heart tells you. If try to do something and you didn't think it's the right thing to do in your heart, you'll end up failing at it." she said as she got up, stretching a bit. "Anyway, I'd better get going. My coffee's wearing off and I'm gonna need a refill soon or I'm gonna crash." Ruby said, starting to walk off when Jaune got up from the floor.

"Wait… what are you doing up?" he asked.

"Restless from coffee. I tend to walk around a bit to try and calm down, ya know? Just between you and me, I've been using Weiss' coffeemaker for the past few weeks." Ruby said, eliciting a chuckle from Jaune.

"So, how do you take your coffee?" Jaune asked.

"With both hands," Ruby said as she walked off. "Now I gotta get to where I'm goin' or else Yang will have to slide me back to bed before the hall monitors fine me for sleeping in the hallways again." She chided before turning a corner, leaving Jaune scratching his head as Cardin stepped out.

"Alright, found it. C'mon, Jaune. We'd better get back to bed. Professor Peach is having us head into the Forest of Forever Fall for a quick trip." Cardin said, putting an arm around Jaune and walking him back to the dorms.

Hours later and Jaune was thankful to have gotten something resembling sleep as he and eleven other students joined Professor James Peach on his excursion through the forest of Forever Fall. A young, clean-shaven man with short brown hair and sky blue eyes, the Medical Studies professor had managed to accumulate a small fanbase among the teenage Huntresses, dubbed "The Peach Pit" which Ruby was a member of, raising her hand to answer every question the Professor asked, even if she didn't know the actual answer. "Let's start with an easy question; why is the Forest called the Forest of Forever Fall?" he asked, Ruby's hand shooting up to the sky. "Yes, Ms. Rose?"

"Because of their signature Red Trees and not because it's trapped in a time hole that renders the forest locked in an eternal state of autumn which sounds really cool but it's just because of the red leaves. It's kind of disappointing, really…" Ruby said, Weiss looking at her askew before rolling her eyes.

"I'm sure disappointment is something people are used to with you." she muttered, Ruby glaring at her before turning her attention to Professor Peach.

"Now, who can tell me the importance of Red Trees to the field of medicine?" he asked, Ruby once again raising her hand excitedly, only for Professor Peach to chuckle a bit. "Hrm… how about you, Mr. Arc?" he asked, Ruby dropping her hand and covering her head with her hood to hide her sadness over not getting picked again.

"Huh? Wha…? Oh yeah, Red Trees are important because…" Jaune said, dragging out while he got his worn out brain to actually function, Dove moving close to him and quickly whispering the answer. "The Red Sap the trees produce can be synthesized into a healing salve to stop bleeding." Jaune said, Professor Peach nodding and setting down a briefcase, opening it to find several glass jars, small hammers and metal cylindrical tubes.

"Very good, Mr. Arc. Now students, you will be gathering a jar of Red Sap. I want twelve jars total, but do be careful as there's been reports of Ursi packs roaming the forest. Keep your weapons close and stay with a partner or two. If defending yourself proves difficult, run and try to find me." he said as the twelve students started to split into groups, Weiss and Blake walking off together while Ruby and Yang walked in an opposite direction, the two sisters barely looking at one another. Jaune made his way slowly to the rest of NVL when he felt a hand clasp his shoulder, turning to see Cardin behind him, smiling.

"Come on, pal. We got some sap to gather." Cardin said with a big smile, Jaune nodding and joining the rest of his new friends deeper into the forest.

Ruby began carefully working on put the siphon into the tree, humming a happy little tune as she gently tapped the mallet into the tree. "Alright! My tree's ready!" Ruby declare, Yang chuckling.

"Man, for someone with a speed semblance, you think you'd be a little faster, Ruby. My sap's already at… three drops…" Yang declared, realizing that their competitive race was brought to dead halt by the actual speed of sap.

"Yeah? We'll I'm at one and a half drops! Go, Sap, Go!" Ruby shouted enthusiastically, pumping her fists and stomping one of her feet on the ground to see if it would come out any faster. Yang paced the forest floor a bit, growing irritated with the ever slowing sap, her eyes slowly widening as stroke of inspiration came to her.

"I got it! I know how to get the sap out!" Yang exclaimed, rearing back her fist and slamming it into the base of the tree, her arm going straight through it as wood shrapnel fired out the other side. "Uh-oh… Ruby! Help! I'm stuck!" she said as she pushed her legs against the wall, pushing against it to attempt and tug herself out, Ruby quickly looking at her.

"See, sis? This is why you don't assault the tree! That tree has feelings!" the red-hooded sister said, admonishing Yang for her cruelty to the poor innocent tree.

"Shut up and pull me out! The sap's ruining my jacket!" Yang shouted, Ruby grabbing her free arm and pulling at it. "Ow! OW! You're gonna pop my shoulder out! Do you want me to lose an arm, Ruby?!" Yang barked out, her angered shouting being picked up by Blake as she and Weiss sat and waited, reading books to pass the time, occasionally looking at the sisters' progress.

"Seems Yang is having some trouble with her tree." Blake said, turning a page.

"Seems stupid runs in their family." Weiss declared, putting her hand in front of her face and laughing her familiar high-pitched, artificial laugh, Blake shaking her head and chuckling a bit.

"Damn it, Weiss. Every time you laugh it makes me laugh. Stop it." Blake said, checking the sap. "Looks like we're about halfway there. Should've brought a few more books." she said, reading another page.

"Why do we have to do this anyway? I mean, why not get some staff members to handle this so we can focus on actually learning?" Weiss asked, Blake looking up to the sky and thinking.

"Hrm… character building?" she replied, unsure of the answer herself, the Schnee heiress rolling her eyes.

"Of course it'd be to build character. So, any plans for Renewal?" Weiss asked, Blake shrugging her shoulders and returning to her book.

"No, not really. I was probably going to stay in Beacon and study." she admitted, adjusting her beret to the wind blowing by.

"Sounds boring. Studying is important, no doubt, but you can't spend your whole life buried in books." Weiss said, thinking it over. "I know, I'll be spending Renewal doing a bit of sightseeing in Remnant. Maybe you could join me." she offered, a smile slowly forming on Blake's face.

"...I'd like that." Blake said, turning her head to see Ruby cutting off the tree around Yang, leaving her with a log wrapped around her arm.

Meanwhile, Team NVL had been only a few inches from completing their jars. "I wonder what this tastes like…" Ren said, Nora grabbing her jar.

"Well, let's give it a try!" she exclaimed, taking a big swig of Red Sap, her body seizing up as the syrupy substance slithered down her throat. "It tastes like burning!" she said, her eye twitching slightly. Pyrrha chuckled and turned to watch Jaune, seeing him having a good time time with Cardin and his friends, the two playing a makeshift game of football with one of the jars. Pyrrha sighed a bit before turning to her own finishing jar of sap.

Within two hours, the jars were full, Cardin reaching into his bag. "Okay guys, now it's time for the real fun to start. Russell, Sky. You know what to do…" he said, two capping their jars and looking around, finding it hard to see in the setting sunlight but soon spotting Ren and Nora. Ren was meditating peacefully while Nora did push-ups.

"Cardin… what's going on?" Jaune asked, Cardin chuckling.

"Consider it your… initiation. You wanna hang with us?" he asked, Jaune slowly nodded, not really liking where this was headed. "Then you gotta cut off some ties here. In this case, with your so-called friends." the Winchester boy continued, picking up a jar and handing it to Jaune. "Now, here's your chance to finally make them pay. Make them pay for how they treated you. Dragging you around like a toy and beating down on you… and for added fun, you get to hit none other than Little Miss Perfect herself, Pyrrha Nikos. So go on.. throw it at her, you get first shot." Cardin said, Jaune looking down at the jar of Red Sap in his hand, then at Pyrrha, then back at the sap.

"...Won't we get in trouble for this?" Jaune asked, Cardin chuckling.

"Sure, but the reward is better than the risk, right?" Cardin said, Jaune taking in a deep breath and turning on his heel.

"I-I need time to think on this, okay?" Jaune said, walking away and sitting underneath the shade of a nearby tree. The thought of whether or not to do this stuck in his mind. "Is this right? I mean, they were just using me… but throwing sap at them?" he said under his breath, mulling it over until he heard a loud humming. "Huh? What's that humming noise? There haven't been any bees around…" Jaune said, looking around until he saw Cardin holding a small box in his hand. It was then that Jaune remembered their trip that morning. "Wait… no… NO!" Jaune shouted, running straight for Cardin. He reared back his arm, jar of Red Sap in his hand.

"Didn't take too long to nab it but now we get payback on that little redheaded-" Cardin said until he heard a scream coming behind. He turned to see Jaune charging at him, throwing the jar of Sap. The jar made an arc in the air, dropping a foot away from Cardin. "Are you kidding me with that throw, Jau-" Cardin said until Jaune tackled him to the ground, throwing wild punches at him until Russell and Sky pulled the blonde off.

"Rapier Wasps?! You were going to attack them with Rapier Wasps?!" Jaune shouted, Cardin getting up and smirking.

"Well, guess the secret's out, guys. What do you say we take care of Jaune first and then I'll throw the sap at Pyrrha. We'll call it a night." Cardin said, walking over and hitting Jaune in the gut with a hard knee.

"Why… why are you doing this?" Jaune asked throw heavy breaths.

"Why? Because unlike you, I had to earn my way into this academy. I didn't get a free pass because my father was a Winchester." Cardin began, decking Jaune in the face. "Look at you. Seven generations of pathetic would-be Hunters acting like they're better than us. My dad always did say Arcs were nothing but cowards and liars. And your friends are no better. Just a bunch of arrogant celebrities with no respect for a real Huntsman." he continued, landing another hit on Jaune.

"You're insane!" Jaune shouted, Cardin chuckling and giving him another knee to the gut.

"Not so big now without your friends, huh Jaune?" Cardin asked with a gleeful smile, Jaune looking at him straight on and spitting in his face.

"Do whatever you want with me… you just leave my friends alone…" Jaune said, Cardin scowling and wiping off the spit on his face.

"Drop him." he said, Russell and Sky throwing Jaune to the ground. The three began stomping him, Cardin turning to Dove. "Dove! Come get in on this! Earn your spot with us!" he shouted, Dove shaking his head.

"No." he said, Cardin stopping his stomp-out and leaving the others to work him over as he walked over to the young Bronzewing.

"Excuse me? I gave you an order. Unless you want me to tell my dad that you've been insubordinate. Dove, I can make sure you get shipped off to some dune in Vacuo." Cardin said, Dove shoving him off.

"I don't care. Anywhere is better than here with you!" Dove exclaimed, storming off.

Cardin grumbled and returned to stomping out Jaune. After a few minutes, Cardin called for an end. "Alright guys, we're behind schedule so let's give him one last goodbye present." Cardin said as Russell and Sky stopped, backing away. "You wanted to go back home, right Jaune?" he asked the bruised blonde on the ground, who merely let out a low groan in response. "Then we're gonna send you home, courtesy of Air Cardin." Cardin said, grabbing Jaune by the midsection and lifting him up, Jaune grabbing onto the jar of sap and slamming it into the Cardin's chest, almost cutting his hand as the jar shattered, covering Cardin's armor in sap, Cardin shoved Jaune off and back to the ground.

"Great! Now I got sap on my armor! Dove's gonna have to clean that!" Cardin said, unstrapping his mace from his back. Cardin lifted the mace into the air about to swing it down on Jaune when he felt it start to tug against him. "Huh? The hell is-" the Winchester boy said as the heavy mace kept pulling away, eventually breaking from his grip and flying into the waiting hand of Pyrrha. Ren and Nora followed from behind, Nora cracking her knuckles with a gleeful smile on her face. Pyrrha tossed Cardin his mace, Russell and Sky standing by his sides. "Oh, this is perfect. I'm done with Arc and now we get to deal with you." Cardin said with a smile. Pyrrha pulled out her spear and shield.

"Then let's settle this, Cardin." she said, Nora unstrapping Magnhild and Ren entering into a fighting stance. Cardin, Russell and Sky charged at them, Team NVL meeting them, Cardin's mace and Pyrrha's spear clashing.


	23. Arc of Triumph, Part 5

Dove ran over to Jaune, grabbing his arm and putting it over his shoulders. "Jaune, are you alright?" he asked, working on pulling him up to his feet as Cardin won the clash between him and Pyrrha, swinging his mace only to be quickly dodged.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." he said as the brown-haired man pulled him toward a nearby tree, evading an oncoming attack by Nora, who shoulder tackled Sky. Jaune was gently set down, Dove checking his wounds while Jaune watched the three-on-three battle went on. Nora eschewed her hammer since using it would most likely kill somebody if she swung too hard. Cardin charged at Pyrrha, swinging his mace at her head, Pyrrha ducking underneath it and smacking her buckler against the center of his armored chest, making him stumble back a couple of steps from the force. He grew frustrated, choking up on the handle and swinging several times, but his swings were wide and Pyrrha knew this, keeping her distance and swinging with the handle of her spear smack him across the face.

Ren was mostly on defense against Sky, turning his torso to each side to dodge all of his halberd's blows, stepping slowly toward him as his attacks grew more desperate, lifting an arm over his head to strike a downward blow that Ren caught with one arm, trapping it under his and leaving Sky's other arm flailing. Ren, now grabbing hold of Sky's arm proceeds to begin kicking him in the legs, face, and chest, his hand pushing onto his shoulder in a joint lock to bend his face down and pummel him with kicks. Though Ren knew to stop when Sky bent the knee and stumbled downward, releasing the grasp on his arm before kicking the actual blade away as it bounced across the red grass. Nora was busy holding off Russell, sliding behind him after a wide slash and diving behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "All aboard!" She shouted, lifting his body into the air and suplexing him with a perfect bridge. She spun around, lifting him back up, putting him in a full nelson. "Round two!" She said, suplexing him again on the back of his head, before flipping behind him and trapping his arms behind him and tying them together. "NORA SPECIALTY HYDRA HUGPLEX!" She shouted, lobbing him behind him and letting go of his arms, making him tumble across the ground in a heap.

She let out a roar, turning and looking to see who she could help in the fight. She bent down to one knee, putting her eyes on Russell before charging straight at him. Russell smirked, sliding his arm out from Ren's hold, moving behind and shoved Ren into the oncoming path of Nora's tackle. Nora slammed into Ren, sending him to the ground. "Oh crap! Ren!" she exclaimed, Russell chuckling and giving a quick boot to the head before turning to join Cardin in fighting Pyrrha. Pyrrha moved carefully, keeping her opponents in her line of sight, soon standing in front of Jaune. She spun her spear to point at them both, standing just behind her shield and glaring at them both.

"You two are about to make an awful mistake." she said calmly, Cardin chuckling and pulling up his mace when there was a sudden growling sound coming from the trees.

"What was that?" Russell asked, moving his head back and forth to scan the area. Jaune slowly got up as Ruby rushed over to them, flailing her arms.

"Ursi incoming! Ursi incoming!" she shouted,

"What?!" Cardin exclaimed, Ruby quickly nodding.

"Weiss went off to get Professor Peach! Blake and Yang will show up soon, I'm glad we found you before they attacked!" Ruby said, quickly working on unhooking her scythe. Jaune's eyes widened in realization of something.

"Jaune? What's wrong?" Pyrrha asked, picking up on his reaction.

"The wasps! We gotta get rid of the box!" he said, pointing to the box of still humming insect Grimm. Cardin quickly grabbed his mace, slamming down onto the box and crushing it, the humming dying off immediately. "Alright, good… now, let's see who we have… I'm still battered, Ren's out, Nora's not holding well, Sky's been suplexed to oblivion. So it's just Ruby, Blake, Yang, Cardin, Pyrrha, Dove and Russell…" Jaune said, voice trailing off in thought.

"Wait a minute, who said you were in charge here, Arc?" Cardin asked, getting right into Jaune's face.

"It was your plan that got us into this mess, Cardin. I think I can figure something out, so can you please just trust me for once?" Jaune asked, Cardin rolling his eyes.

"If I see one thing I don't like about this, I'm taking the lead." he said, shoving Jaune against the tree for emphasis as Blake and Yang soon arrived, Yang wearing one gauntlet on her free arm. Jaune seethed a bit, taking in breathe through his teeth.

"Yang… I don't want to scare you, but you have a log where your arm's supposed to be…" he said, Yang facefaulting.

"Gee… I didn't notice…" Yang replied, Jaune quickly shaking it off.

"Alright everyone! Form a circle!" Jaune ordered, the group coming together. "Okay, first we'll need to assess the situation. How many Ursi are coming towards us?" Jaune asked, Blake quickly holding up four fingers.

"Okay, four Ursi. We'll need to isolate an Ursa and kill it quickly as possible before they figure out their targets, so we're gonna need an ambush. Once then, we split off into three teams of two. Ruby and Yang, Cardin and Dove, Blake and Pyrrha. Russell, you wake up the others, they need to pile on whoever is struggling the most. This isn't about bragging rights, so nobody needs to prove their better by taking on a Grimm. I'd prefer us living together than dying alone." Jaune said, putting his hand out, palm downward. Pyrrha quickly joined her hand on top of his, followed by Ruby, then Blake, then Dove. Cardin and Russell seemed the most hesitant, but eventually put their hands in, finally joined by a log placed atop of the group's hands, leading to several odd stares at Yang.

"...Whoops, wrong hand." she said, quickly putting in her other hand, the assembled rookies quickly dispersing as they heard the growling become louder.

"They're gaining on us. If you have an idea of who goes in for the ambush, let us know now!" Ruby said, unfurling her scythe, Jaune scratched his chin, trying to think on who to pick but being distracted by Yang's weird log-arm.

"Damn it, Yang! Can't you do something about that… log… on… I got it! Yang! Punch your weird log… arm thing!" Jaune said, Yang turning and looking at him as though he had just literally became a tiger.

"...What?" she asked.

"Punch the log with Ember Celica! The Dust will light the dry wood and put it on fire! The sap will keep you safe from the heat!" he explained as the stomping of an Ursa came into their ears. Yang quickly punched at the log with her free arm. Just as Jaune had said, the fire Dust within sparked the log, creating a burning arm.

"I can help!" Nora shouted behind Yang's shoulder.

"Nora! Awesome! Help Yang punch that Ursa as hard as she can." Jaune ordered, Nora nodding.

"Any ideas, Blondie?" Nora asked, Yang's eye twitching slightly.

"First, don't call me 'Blondie' unless you want to be another Ursa for me to punch… And second of all." Yang trailed off as her brain tried to process what she could do. "...Throw me at 'em." she said, Nora nodding rapidly and grabbing her unlit arm.

"Alright! Make like an arrow and I'll toss you on three!" she exclaimed, Yang nodding and quickly moving backing behind her, stopping when she felt like her arm was going to pop out of socket. Nora began to spin, Yang running along to pick up speed, her burning arm outstretched. As soon as the blonde's feet left the ground, Nora began to count. "One… two… three!" she exclaimed, letting go and sending Yang flying into air, her arm burning bright as she flew into an oncoming Ursa, her fist slamming into its skull. Two cracks erupted, the first being the log bursting into pieces. The second was the cracking of the protective plate around the Ursa's face, Yang's burning fist breaking through the skull and out the other side in a black tar like gore.

"Okay, that's gross." Yang groaned out of disgust, pulling her hand out and trying to both shake off the pain and the black ooze. She quickly unclipped her gauntlet from her white belt, putting it on. "Hrm… maybe when we're done with this I can skin one of the big bears and make myself a new coat." she said before running back to meet with the others. "One Ursa down!" she exclaimed as she ran back.

"Alright. Nora, can you fight?" Jaune asked, Nora letting out a guffaw.

"Is that even a question, Jaune?" she shot back, Jaune smiling.

"Good. Nora, you and Blake switch out. Blake, if you see anyone who needs help, jump in and use your agility as a distraction." he said, Blake nodding and moving next to him. The stomping grew louder and more frequent as two Ursi charged in. Ruby and Yang ran for the rightmost Ursa while Pyrrha and Nora went for the left Ursa. Cardin and Dove ran ahead while the Ursi were focused on the ones targeting the, heading to find the last Ursa.

Yang ducked under an oncoming Ursa claw, leaping onto one of its legs to smash into the side of it with one of her flaming gauntlets. Her sister saw it stumble, running up its back and slashing along the hide with her good arm, her sharpened blade managing to draw blood, before diving off a shoulder and attempting to cut its head off from behind when she realized she didn't have enough strength in one arm, leaving her dangling off the bear. "Yang!" Ruby shouted, her sister digging her feet into the ground and slamming dozens of punches into its stomach. The Ursa grew restless from the relentless striking, leaping into the air to try and crush her underneath, Ruby doing a cartwheel off of it before making a handspring backward to align herself with the falling Ursa, making it land chestfirst straight onto the curved blade, nearly piercing it all the way through.

"Now for the fun part!" Yang shouted as the Ursa writhed, only making the blade stabbed through its chest dig deeper. She drew back her arm, charging at full tilt, leaping over her sister and railing him with a blow that sent him flying backwards, the scythe blade slashing up its chest, into its neck until it bisected its entire head.

"Think we got it?" The younger sister asked as the Ursa fell onto it's back in a heap of black blood. Yang stroked her chin gently as she walked over, kicking it in half of its head to see if it was still moving.

"Yep, we got it." Yang said, ruffling her sister's head before turning to check on Pyrrha and Nora, eyes widening at the sight of Pyrrha riding the Ursa like a horse.

"Left! Wait, no… Right! More right! Too much right, left again!" Nora shouted from the ground to Pyrrha, who was trying to steer the bear toward her as she was sitting there with her hammer on her shoulder, primed to strike.

"Have you tried steering a bear, Nora!?" The redhead shouted in protest.

"Tried!? I'm the bear-riding champion at home for five years ru-" Nora shouted as the Ursa slammed straight into her, launching her through a nearby tree. Ruby and Yang rushed over to Pyrrha as Russell ran to check on the unconscious Nora.

"Swarm the Ursa, use the fact he can only attack one person at a time!" Jaune shouted from a distance to the three women.

"Got it!" Ruby called back, diving right at the Ursa as Pyrrha leapt off of the beast, each one surrounding it on a different side. Pyrrha quickly spun with a hint of her semblance kicking in, launching her shield at full speed and causing it to careen into the side of its neck, lodging it in tight. The Ursa struggled to pull the shield from its neck, gripping it with a claw and pulling while Pyrrha grabbed her spear, charging forward and impaling the Grimm in the chest. Though the blade didn't sink as deep from her lack of momentum, leaving the blade wedged inside as she tried to pull it out and stab it again.

Ruby leapt into the air to meet the Ursa's chest, barely slicing it and kicking off the bear Grimm and soon as she landed. "Ruby! Be careful with how you cut! We can't risk getting infected with Grimm blood!" Jaune shouted as the black ooze sprayed out the wound, Pyrrha moving in closer to the Ursa to avoid the spray of gore. She soon stabbed her spear into its chin, struggling to hold its head in place. "Ruby! Yang! I've got the head!" Pyrrha exclaimed, Yang charging up and leaping into the air, punching straight down onto the head and forcing the blade of the spear through the skull, Yang making a rough landing on the ground.

"I hate bears…" she said between heaving breaths, slowly getting up as the Ursa fell onto its back.

"Alright! That's three Ursi down and one to go! You guys rest up, I'm gonna scout ahead to check on Cardin and Dove." Jaune said, running into the forest, hearing the sounds of battle growing louder. The roar of the Ursa was louder than the others and sounded more aggressive. "Man, they're really giving that Grimm… a…. fight…" Jaune said, his words caught in his throat as he saw the Ursa. It was twice the size of a normal Ursa, a series of massive spikes protruding from its back. Dove held its sword against the Grimm's jaw, standing over Cardin, who was on the ground, half-conscious.

"Jaune! It's an Alpha! Get Cardin and go!" Dove called, Jaune nodding and running over to help Cardin to his feet.

"Unh… damn it... " Cardin muttered as Jaune shouldered one of his arms. The Alpha Ursa bit straight through Dove's blade, shattering in his mouth and slamming straight into Dove, sending him to the ground hard. "Oh man… Jaune, we're gonna die…" Cardin said with a note of defeat in his voice, a far cry from his usual swagger.

"If we're gonna die, we're gonna die fighting!" Jaune said, sliding the scabbard of his sword onto his arm and drawing the blade. He quickly pressed the button to unfold his shield, waiting for the oncoming Alpha Ursa. Cardin let out a small chuckle, gripping his mace and swinging only to be quickly backhanded away into a tree. Jaune stood firm, tightly gripping the hilt of his sword as the giant Grimm barreled toward him, a spear lobbing into its shoulder. "...Huh? Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, turning to see Pyrrha, Ruby, Yang and Russell standing behind them. "Okay five-on-one and it's a big one… thinking… thinking -hard-" Jaune said as Yang rushed in, her mind and body running on pure adrenaline as she reared back and launched her fist straight into the Ursa's skull, hearing an unpleasant crack.

However, the crack was not the Ursa's bone plate but of Yang's wrist breaking. the blonde let out a cry of pain as the Alpha Ursa knocked Yang down, looming over her. The Grimm bit down into her boot, Yang letting out a scream as its teeth sunk into her skin, and took her from the ground and swung her deeper into the tree. "Yang!" Ruby exclaimed, running past the Alpha Ursa and toward where Yang was tossed.

"Okay… three-to-one. This is not gonna be easy, but we can-" Jaune began, cut off by Russell jumping onto the Grimm, spinning the barrels on his daggers, landing on two Lightnings, the blades sparking wildly. Russell slammed the daggers into the Alpha Ursa's exposed flesh, the massive bear Grimm flailing and shaking. Russell couldn't hold onto the bucking beast and was thrown backward, one of its spikes impaling into his shoulder. Russell let out of cry of intense pain, dropping his daggers to the ground.

Pyrrha quickly leapt up onto the Alpha Ursa, working to help Russell off the spike, pulling him off quickly so as to not prolong his pain, quickly leaping off the Alpha Ursa and going into her bag, grabbing some cloth to dress the wound. "Jaune! Stand guard!" Pyrrha ordered, Jaune nodding and turning to face the Alpha Ursa. He buried his heel into the dirt as the Grimm lumbered toward them, letting out a loud roar and drawing back a claw swatting Jaune aside, his body bouncing off the ground as he slowly slid to a stop. He gasped in pain, lying on the ground face up. Jaune forced himself up, when the next strike was deflected by his shield, causing sparks to fire off and dashing back into his original position before it reached Pyrrha with his shield. The Alpha Ursa smacked Jaune again, sending him into a tree when he felt a crack in his ribs that make him suddenly cough up blood. He slowly slid down the tree, landing seated as he looked at his hands, slowly clutching them a couple of times to see if he could still move.

"I… I-I can't…" He muttered to himself, pushing his hand onto his knee and slowly stumbling back onto his feet. When he looked up, he saw the Ursi slowly beginning to turn its attention to Pyrrha as she tries to stifle the bleeding of Russell. "No…" Jaune said, gritting his teeth and forcing himself back to his feet and running back to the Ursa as it lifted its claw, ready to slice into Pyrrha only to be blocked by Jaune, a glowing white light surrounding the blond rookie Huntsman. The claw was shattered when it's claw struck Jaune, leaving pieces of bone flying behind him. "NO ONE HURTS **MY FRIENDS**!" Jaune charged forward with his sword. His blade instinctively stabbed forward, launching the sword into its heart and killing it. "W-wha…" Jaune asked from sheer confusion, the Ursa falling to the ground in front of him with a thud that caused the ground to tremble.

"Jaune... you did it…" Pyrrha said, awestruck at the sight of Jaune killing the Alpha.

"W-what did I do?" he asked, staring at the fallen Ursa before walking over to retrieve his sword.

He pulled at the hilt, Ruby walking back to the site of the battle with a limping Yang who winced with each step, a reddened white cloth wrapped around her leg. "Guys! We gotta get Yang back to… the… whoa…" Ruby said, words lost at the sight of the fallen Ursa, Jaune extracting his sword. "Jaune… did you kill that thing… by yourself?" Ruby asked, Jaune chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of his head.

"I… uh… got a bit carried away." he said with a smile as rushing footsteps broke through the silence. Professor Peach rushed out, wielding a straight sword with a red hilt before coming to a stop, seeing the dead Grimm in front of him.

"Oh… well… it appears I was a bit too late." Peach said, sheathing his sword and turning to see the wounded and unconscious students around him, Weiss, Blake and Ren following after him. Ren had fallen slightly behind due to carrying Nora on his back. "Ah! I see Beacon's medical wing will be full for a few days… Weiss, Blake. Please assist me in helping the students." Professor Peach said, the two walking over to the unconscious Dove and Cardin, who were coming to.

"Whoa… who killed the big Ursa?" Nora asked, Jaune sheepishly raising his hand. "No way… you?" she said incredulously, Pyrrha walking over and nodding.

"Mhm. Saved me and Russell too." Pyrrha said, Jaune turning red with embarrassment.

"I-I mean… it just kind of happened, ya know…" he said, feeling his knees turn soft on him as others began to walk off, Cardin grumbling about having to be helped by "that Faunus lover" as Blake put his arm over her shoulders. Jaune felt his knees solidify as he walked over to Cardin, who looked at the blonde and smiled.

"Man, Jaune. Didn't think you had it in ya to kill an Ursa. Good job, buddy." Cardin said extending his hand out so Jaune could shake it, Jaune giving him a hard punch across the face.

"I don't care about whatever petty grudges you have. I don't care about your family and I don't care about the Faunus War. This, right there?" He said, pointing to the corpse of the Ursa Alpha he fought as Cardin reached up to start rubbing his sore jaw. "That's the enemy… Don't forget about that." Jaune said, walking off and leaving him to nurse his wound. He soon caught up with Team NVL, Pyrrha giving him a pat on the back.

"It's good to have you back, Jaune." she said, the four making their way out to the forest, lead by Professor Peach's lantern light. As they walked, Jaune's smile started to fade as he started to remember how he had ignored these three and sided with Cardin and even after that they came to his rescue. Whatever sense of elation he had from fighting the Ursa was washed away by guilt as he looked down at the ground. "Jaune? Is something wrong?" Pyrrha asked, Jaune looking up.

"Huh? Ah… well, just been thinking of these past few weeks and… I'm sorry, guys. I just thought that I wasn't gonna make it in Beacon, then Russell and Cardin were telling me things and next thing I know we're nearly getting killed by Ursi…" Jaune said, the rest looking at him.

"What did Cardin tell you?" Ren asked bluntly.

"He said that you guys didn't really like me. That you were just being my friend because you pitied me. That you just wanted someone to kick around and call it training. I shouldn't have listened to them… I'm such an idiot…" Jaune said with a deep sigh, feeling a hand on his shoulder.

"Jaune, do you remember how we first met?" Pyrrha asked, Jaune blinking a bit.

"Uh… well… we were on the air shuttle… and I ended up throwing up in a trashcan…" Jaune said, Pyrrha chuckling a bit.

"Well, yes. I had heard about that. But when you came up to me, you didn't ask for an autograph or talk my ear off about credentials. You just walked up and asked for a seat. You treated me like any other person. You may not fully understand this, but that meant a lot to me. A lot of people end up acting like the people they see on TV are fictional, that we aren't real people with real feelings, yet you at least have some semblance of respect for every person you meet." Pyrrha said, Nora joining in.

"Yeah! Plus, me and Ren are a pretty close knit circle! You got in without even trying! You're a good man, Jaune and we're glad to have you with us!" Nora said with a big grin on her face.

"As for treating you like a punching bag, while I will admit that we can be a bit rough, we were simply trying to teach you as we had been taught before." Ren explained. "And you forget about experience. You're still learning because you haven't been taught, we have had these lessons beaten into us since our childhood." He continued, Pyrrha nodding as Jaune took this all in.

"And after all you've done, there should be no doubt that you belong in Beacon. You may not be the best fighter right now, but you have the makings of it and you've proved why being a great fighter isn't all there is to being a good Huntsman. You used quick thinking to lead us to kill three Ursi and even when you were clearly outnumbered, you fought to protect others. You wanted to be a hero like your father and those before you, right?" Pyrrha asked, Jaune nodding slowly. "Well, you're certainly on the right path if you stay in Beacon." she said, Jaune's frown turning into a smile.

Jaune stopped, putting his hand out in front of them. "So guys, ANVL?" he asked, Pyrrha smiling and putting her hand on top of his, Ren and Nora joining in, Nora's hand being placed a bit awkwardly due to her having reach over Ren's shoulder.

"Alright! Enough of this heartfelt nonsense! It's getting late and I haven't eaten in hours and I want all the ham! Ren! Hyah! Mush!" Nora exclaimed, gently tapping Ren's sides. Without a single word of objection, Ren began to run faster, dashing ahead of the others as they saw the forest clearing up ahead, Pyrrha and Jaune bursting into laughter.

"Ah man, I missed this…" Jaune said, wiping a tear from his eye as they kept walking.

"It's great to have you back, Jaune." Pyrrha said with a big smile on her face.

"It's great to be back, Pyrrha."


	24. Renewal, Part 1

A light snow hit the Kingdom of Vale, gently covering the ground as students filed out of Beacon, heading for outgoing airships to the other Kingdoms in light winter gear. Ruby weaved through the departing students on her way to the reception office. "Mailmailmailmailmailmailmailmailmailmail!" she said rapidly, stopping at the door and rushing in.

"Good morning, Ruby. You've got a letter today from your father." The receptionist said, handing Ruby an envelope. Ruby quickly tore it open, barely trying to preserve the envelope as she looked inside and unfolded the letter, heading outside the reception office to look inside the letter.

 _Hey Ruby,_

 _Heard your arm's getting better. That's great to hear. Here's hoping nothing's gone wrong since then. I hope you and Yang are back on the same page. I know Yang can be stubborn, but you can't spend your whole time hating your sister, especially living the life of Huntress like you guys do. Glad to hear you're making friends. Uncle Crowe's been busy on missions and Zwei misses you guys. Little monster's threatening to tear up the whole couch without you around. Sorry I haven't been writing back often, but I've been getting back to teaching at Signal Academy. Been great to go back to the old school and teach the next generation and all. Hope to see you guys for Renewal._

 _\- Dad._

Ruby sighed sadly, a return to Patch was out of the question with Yang still under quarantine for potential infection, so she was staying in Vale with nothing to do. "Couldn't even bring me an early gift, huh dad?" she jokingly said as she opened up her schoolbag. She shuffled through her bag to grab a pen and some paper.

 _Hey Dad,_

 _Hand's all healed, but Yang's in the medical wing. We got in a fight with an Alpha Ursa. No one died, thankfully, but a lot of people got hurt. Yang broke a wrist and got her leg bitten so they're having her in quarantine. She really hates having to sit around all day and having tests done, so maybe you can send her some Renewal gifts to put her in a good mood. And maybe the new Kings & Pawns for me…_

 _...Anyway, Jaune's been doing a lot better. He stabbed the Alpha Ursa! It was awesome! And he gets the train with Pyrrha! I know you say not be jealous but he's so lucky! Oh yeah, and me and Blake are back on speaking terms. It's great to have my reading buddy back, plus it seems like she and Velvet are friends again. Oh! I haven't talked about Velvet, have I? Well, she's a second year student and part of Team CFVY. The only member of that team I've met is Coco, because she hosts the Boxing Club so I have to relay messages between her and Yang. Coco is… kind of crazy, always rambling about "the Hype" and I think she really likes punching people. And being punched. Like I said, kind of crazy._

 _As for Velvet, she's nice if a bit jittery. I've been seeing her and Jaune hang out a lot, so that's pretty cool for him. He gets to get some knowledge from an experienced Huntress along with some of the best fighters in Remnant. He'll probably be single handedly killing a whole pack of Beowolves by the end of the year. Oh yeah, and Velvet's a Faunus. Rabbit ears. I kind of keep forgetting that about her sometimes._

 _So, now that I'm done rambling, I think I'd better get to seeing Yang before she tries to get up and find me. I'll try to write back but can you see about getting a phone, dad? You spent good money getting Yang a phone and you didn't get yourself one? Oh wait! Don't buy a phone! Buy me Liberation! It's probably on Renewal discount right now! Oh no, I'm running out of paper to write o-_

 _\- Ruby_

She quickly scribbled her name onto the back of the paper and stuffed it into the envelope, leaving it on the reception desk and rushing through the halls to get to medical wing, passing by students talking about their plans for Renewal, the annual celebration of the new year and remembrance of the past year. She bumped into people along the way, getting shouts of "watch it!" which she apologized for quickly as she made it to the medical wing, knocking on the door to see an older gentleman with slicked white hair and matching beard in a white coat. "Hi, Doctor Jacobs! Is it okay if I visit Yang?" the young girl asked, the doctor chuckling a bit.

"Ah, hello Ruby. Testing has finished for the morning so I think an hour wouldn't be out of line." he said, moving aside and allowing Ruby to run over to Yang's bed.

Ruby ran past the other beds to her sister, who was lying down with her arm in a cast and her leg elevated above her. "Ruby! Finally, I thought I was gonna lose my mind with boredom! Any word from Coco?" Yang asked, Ruby looking up at the ceiling in thought.

"Hrm… I think she said she was gonna be spending Renewal with her team to train for the Vytal Festival Tournament. Boxing Club is canceled for the whole of Renewal break." Ruby said, Yang lightly shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, I'm not getting out any faster so I can miss a few days. You got any plans since we're sat out here?" the older sister asked, Ruby nodding.

"Well, I've had a lot of time since what happened at Final Harvest…" Ruby said, looking at her recently healed hand. "And I wanna see if I can find Chance Logan." she explained, Yang blinking a bit.

"...Who?" Yang asked, Ruby sighing and shaking her head.

"The guy me and Blake fought during the entrance exam. He's a VWA fighter and he's fast. I think he has the Semblance as I do, so he might make for a good mentor for me in how to fight without my weapon." Ruby said.

"You sure about that, Ruby? I mean, he'd probably be a good choice, but the VWA travels to different kingdoms, so you're not gonna be able to train with him as often as you'd want. And what if he says no? I mean, what celebrity just takes in a green-as-grass rookie under their wing to train them how to be a fighter?" Yang asked, Ruby letting out a cough that sounded like "Pyrrha" to which the older sister playfully punched her little sister's shoulder. "Shut up…" Yang muttered with a smile. "But, if you're sure about this, then there's not much I can do to stop you, right?" Yang said, Ruby smiling and wrapping her arms around Yang. "Ow! Watch the arm!" she exclaimed in shock and slight pain.

"Thank you, Yang!" Ruby said, tightening her grip and nearly suffocating the older sister. Yang gingerly returned the hold, feeling overjoyed to have her little sister back. The two soon separated, Ruby looking down at the floor. "Sorry about running off, Yang. I just wanted to know what the Zoo Quarter was like and-" Ruby said, cut of by Yang ruffling her hair with her working hand.

"It's okay, Ruby. I figure you learned your lesson that night and really, I did get carried away…" she said, taking a deep breath. "Blake's not a bad person, a bit too quiet for my taste, but she's not a bad person. So I guess we both went a bit wrong. Maybe dad was right that he should've come with us to Beacon, huh?" Yang asked with a grin, Ruby laughing at that.

"Oh man, having him chase us down the halls making sure we didn't forget any books…" Ruby replied, her cheeks hurting from smiling. Ruby's phone rang in her bag. "Oh! Sorry Yang. I forgot to turn that off…" she said, grabbing her phone out and answering the call. "Hello?"

"Hey Ruby. Not sure if this is a bad time to ask, but my sister sent me two tickets to VWA Downfall and I need someone to go with. You gonna be busy tonight?" came the voice of Jaune from the other end.

"Jaune? Uh, I'm just visiting my sister right now, but I don't think she'll mind me heading out tonight, but what about Pyrrha?" Ruby asked.

"Ren and Nora are taking her around to give her a crash course on Renewal." Jaune explained, Ruby putting her phone down and looking at Yang.

"Jaune's asking me to go to VWA Downfall with him. You don't mind if I go, right?" Ruby asked.

"Nah, we would've probably watched it on TV if you had stayed here." Yang said, grabbing the nearby remote. "Go on and have fun. That's part of Renewal after all." she said, Ruby smiling and giving her sister another hug before running out of the hospital. "Ruby! You forgot your phone!" Yang shouted, unaware that her sister was long out earshot. "At least she used the door this time…" she muttered, picking up the phone.

"Ruby? You still there?" Jaune asked, confused at what he heard from his end.

"She's on her way, Jaune." Yang answered, hanging up and setting the phone down on her nightstand.

"Hello? Yang? You still there?" Jaune asked the dial tone before putting away his phone. He sat by his locker, watching the students walk by, trying to see if he could spot Ruby. "I wonder if she even knows where to meet-" Jaune said before he was knocked off his feet by an oncoming red blur. "Whoa! ...Ruby, do you use your Semblance for everything?" Jaune asked as Ruby climbed off him.

"Why not? It makes it so I get to places earlier and my stamina improves so I don't burn out so easily." Ruby said, helping Jaune back up to his feet.

"If you say so…" he said, pulling one of the tickets out of his pocket along with two laminated pieces of paper.

"Whoa, backstage passes too?" Ruby said, grabbing her ticket and pass.

"Yeah, Valerie wanted me to be there for this match since the rest of the family's not gonna make it." Jaune said as he began to carefully put his pass around his neck, tucking it under his shirt. Ruby looked over her backstage pass, seeing Chance Logan's name as one of the listed fighters, a smile breaking out across her face. This was her opportunity to meet the Bullet Demon again. "Show's at eight, so we'll need to be ready in an hour, until then, you wanna make some signs?" he asked, Ruby nodding

"Sure, I think the library's still open!" Ruby said, making a run for the library, Jaune trying to keep up with her.

"Damn it, Ruby! Stop using your Semblance!" he shouted, barely able to keep his eyes on the red-hooded girl as she ran.

After hours of making signs and buying cheap snacks to sneak in, Ruby and Jaune soon found themselves waiting in line for the show. Ruby looked at the line with a good deal of surprise as she did not expect this many people for a wrestling show, they were standing an entire city block away from the arena. "Say Jaune, wrestling's fake, right? Why are there so many people here?" Ruby asked, Jaune chuckling a bit.

"It's a bit more complicated than that. Just be glad you didn't say that in front of one of the wrestlers." he said, checking to see if anyone in line was giving his friend an evil eye. "While wrestling has predetermined results and is scripted and choreographed ahead of time, there's a lot of skill and effort that goes into it. A lot of wrestlers are trained fighters from other sports and take it from me, they don't try to hurt each other but being dropped and stretched for a job can be painful." he explained, Ruby taking it in.

"Yeah, but why watch if you know it isn't a real fight?" she asked, Jaune needing very little time to reply.

"Why read Kings & Pawns if you know there's no… Kingpawn Tournament?" Jaune said, Ruby rolling her eyes.

"It's called the Culling, you goof. And I read it because the characters are cool and the action scenes are awesome!" Ruby said.

"Exactly! Wrestling is storytelling in the its most basic form, compelling characters and exciting action scenes. It can be goofy, sure, but that's just part of the charm. Plus there's the atmosphere, but I think it's better if we get into the arena and let you experience that for yourself." he said as they were only a few people away from the ticket taker.

"You think they'll let in our signs?" Ruby asked, carefully adjusting the signs under arm.

"I'm more worried about the snacks getting confiscated." Jaune replied as they were soon next in line, getting their tickets punched and given directions to their seats. The pair of Beacon students made their way along the hall, the sound of raucous cheering growing louder as they made it to the door, walking through to a blast of noise from the assembled audience. Ruby and Jaune walked down the steps, Ruby double-checking the rows and stopping them.

"Right here!" she said loudly, Jaune nodding and following her as they made it to their seats, looking to see a couple of guys wrestling. The two looked very similar in generic black-and-white attire and similar short hair. "Oh, looks like we came in a bit late!" Ruby said, trying to be heard over the crowd.

"Nah, it's fine! This is just the dark match! They're just hear to provide some action to get the crowd going before the cameras turn on!" Jaune explained as he sat down, ruffling around in his jacket pockets and handing Ruby a bag of gummy Ursi.

The dark match came to an end, leaving the ring empty for several minutes before the announcer, a balding fat man, entered with a microphone. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we at the VWA are proud to announce an attendance of 14,198 people!" he declared to a rousing applause. "Tonight's card will feature six incredible matches starting with a tag team match scheduled for one fall! Introducing first, from the Kingdom of Vale! At a combined weight of 350 pounds! Casey Gemini! Paul Gemini! The Gemini Brothers!" The announcer shouted, nearly drowned out by the sound of screaming teenage girls as two young, identical looking men in tasseled boots and tie-dye tights stood at the ramp, doing a series of poses and flexes before making their way down the ramp.

"And their opponents, from the Gates of Tartarus! At a combined weight of 487 pounds, Michael and Gabriel, the Hellhounds!" the announcer called, a generic speed metal track playing through the speakers as two men in black-and-red tights with chest plates covered in fake plastic spikes rose menacingly from the bottom of the ramp, awash in a bright red light. The two screamed in time with their entrance theme before marching down the ramp, the bell ringing as the smaller of the two beasts took the lead to face the blonde Gemini brother.

At first, the match had been somewhat back and forth and resembled an actual competition until the Hellhounds took Casey Gemini into their corner of the ring and took turns repeatedly pummeling, the referee yelling at Paul to stay in his corner. "Come on, ref! Turn around! Do you not hear them hitting Casey?! They're cheating! Stoooop cheeeaaating!" Ruby shouted futilely, Jaune trying to suppress his laughter at this sight. Soon enough, Casey had ducked an oncoming clothesline from Michael, running on what little energy he had to make the tag to his brother at which point a trend had begun in the ring that Ruby caught onto within minutes. "The Gemini Brothers have done about 38 kicks so far… 39! Why do they keep kicking people? Who only uses kicks?!" Ruby asked, Jaune shrugging.

"The Gemini Brothers do." he said as the finish soon arrived, the crowd calling for "Dou-ble Vi-sion!" and clapping in rhythm as the Gemini Brothers had the hulking Gabriel to themselves, doing stereo kicks to his head, Gabriel falling back and bouncing off the ropes into another set of double kicks, bouncing once more while the brothers ran to opposite sides of the ring, bouncing off the ropes and kicking Gabriel in the front and back of his head, brunette Paul Gemini pinning him while Casey kicked Michael in the head to keep him from stopping the count, the ref counting three and the crowd erupting in cheers.

"That was 75 kicks!" Ruby said, flabbergasted.

"That's a low number for a Gemini Brothers match…" Jaune replied, Ruby's jaw dropping in response.

The next match saw King Tiger face off against Raijin, both rather large specimens each weighing around 300 pounds. Neither were lacking in mobility as they could move quite smoothly while throwing one another onto their necks and heads. Ruby would periodically look up from her snacks to see King Tiger throw Raijin in an act that could charitably be described as "legally sanctioned attempted murder" before burying herself in the safety of delicious gummies. The match soon had devolved into the two slapping each other's chests as hard as they can, the crowd letting out a collective "ooooooohhhhh" with each chop. "Oww! Look at their chests! I think they're bleeding!" Ruby said, Jaune nodding in agreement.

"I didn't think a slap could hurt that badly!" he said with a wince as Raijin hit with another hard slap. The match concluded mercifully with Raijin elbowing King Tiger hard in the right temple, sending him collapsing to the mat for a three count.

"Okay, wrestling isn't fake!" Ruby said in an odd mix of relieved panic. Relief stemming from the match ending, panic that another match like that would come up.

After a rather standard back-and-forth between two midcard wrestlers fighting for reasons unknown to Ruby and the VWA Tag Title match where the aerial-based Pegasus Boyz retained, came the VWA Women's Championship match. "Introducing first, from the island of Patch! The VWA Women's Champion, Valor Arc!" the ring announcer called, a woman with short dirty blonde hair and blue eyes headed down the ramp, wearing a pair of blue and gold tights and matching athletic shirt. The crowd let out a chorus of raucous jeering as she held her silver-plated belt aloft in one hand.

"Ohh, Jaune…" Ruby said sadly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"What? What's wrong, Ruby?" Jaune asked, Ruby blinking a bit in confusion.

"Well, I mean, they're booing your sister. Aren't you at least a bit upset?" she asked back, Jaune chuckling at her naivete.

"Of course not! Valerie's playing a bad guy, she's probably loving this reaction since it means she's doing her job right." Jaune explained, Ruby simply giving a drawn-out "ohhhhhhhh" as the next wrestling was announced.

"And her opponent, from the Kingdom of Atlas, Diana Hunter!" the announcer called to an equal cacophony of cheers as a woman with long black hair wearing a red and green athletic shirt with a silver "D" in the center designed to resemble both a bow and a moon, along with a silver H made of arrows, a pair of dark green tights, red boots with matching laces and a pair of tasseled armbands, Ruby recognizing the attire.

"Oh, hey! That's the costume Pyrrha wore at Final Harvest! But didn't it have a mask?" Ruby asked.

"It did, but she lost the mask in a Title vs. Mask match that same month, oddly enough." he said, looking around a bit before whispering in Ruby's ear. "To be honest, I kinda like her more with the mask off…" he said, Ruby giggling at that and rolling her eyes before turning her attention to the ring where the bell had sounded.

The match started off with Valor in a dominant role, throwing Diana around as if it were nothing, Diana kicking out of each pin attempt, which only saw her get tossed harder, each suplex getting a more rough landing until Diana caught the ropes. She pulled herself up, going for a kick only to have her leg caught, Valor trapping the ankle in her arm and twisting, the referee quickly attempting to pull her off, counting until he reached four. The older Arc let go and began to get in the ref's face, shoving him aside and turning only to receive a kick to the face to the delight of the crowd, a "Di-An-A!" chant breaking out, Jaune holding up a sign showing his support. The match became a back-and-forth affair, barring the challenger's limp from the previous attack on her ankle, which Valor took advantage of at every turn, drawing boos from the crowd. Even Ruby found herself wanting to throw her soda bottle at Valor's head. The end came when Diana reversed another ankle lock attempt, grabbing Valor's head under her arm and with careful movements, jumped backwards and backflipped in the air, driving Valor back-first into the mat and pinning her. The crowd went into hysterics as the ref counted to three, the cheers growing louder as Diana stood up, the referee handing her the belt which she cradled as if it were a child.

Minutes after the match, the ring was empty with VWA Heavyweight Champion Rock Morrison stepped out, flexing and posing to a mixed reaction from the crowd. He climbed into the ring and played up for a bit more, showing off his belt before shouldering it and resting against his corner. The lights quickly dimmed, the crowd going silent with anticipation as a bright red light overtook the ramp. After a minute of wait, a figure in black body paint crawled out slowly and carefully into the light, the crowd cheering while Ruby looked on in awe, taking in the finer details of the paint job. Chance was painted as a Wyvern, with black and intricate scale patterns along his front, near his chest, the painting opened up to show white blood drenched teeth and a broad maw that covered his neck, a bone carved face painted on his own face, as he walked past, he was slowly dragging chains behind him, his back adorned with two pair of wings strapped to the inside of his arms that dragged along the ramp unless he raised his arms. As he went down the ramp, spotlights flashed onto him, Chance recoiling as if in fear or pain of the light. Ruby soon picked up on the spotlights being timed to his music as he climbed the steps into the ring. "Whoa…. that's Chance?" she asked, hard to believe this was the polite, short-haired gentleman who beat her in under five minutes months ago.

The lights came on and the announcer held up the mic as workers began undoing the chains and wings Chance was wearing. "The following contest is scheduled for one fall and is for the VWA Heavyweight Championship! Introducing first, from the Kingdom of Atlas, weighing in at 295 pounds, he is the VWA Heavyweight Champion… ROCK MORRISON!" he declared, Rock holding his belt aloft to the continued mixed reaction. "And introducing the challenger, from the Kingdom of Vacuo, weighing in at 190 pounds… Bullet Demon, CHANCE LOGAN!" the announcer called, Chance taking in the "Bul-Let De-Mon!" chants with a calm determination as the bell rang.

They both began to slowly circle each other, Chance flinching a bit every time Morrison tried to take a step forward, trying to react to his movements. They did this a few more times, until Chance started swinging low kicks to his legs, knowing that he needs to beat Rock in speed, since overpowering a man over 100 pounds heavier than him would be an awful idea. Chance continued to strike at his legs, dashing away before Morrison could swing a full haymaker at him out of frustration. Morrison gritted his teeth, catching Logan by the leg when he tried yet another kick to the shin, hooking him by the knee and falling down, giving him a screwing leg whip and sending both of them to the ground. Chance lept back to his feet with a handspring, but suddenly stumbled on one of his legs as he felt it begin to give from the sudden twisting motion. Morrison got back onto his own feet, walking over and smashing an elbow to the side of Logan's head, causing him to stumble back into the ropes. Chance grabbed them for balance, but Morrison charged against him, smashing the back of his elbow to the side of his head over and over again.

"Stop getting hit in the head!" Jaune complained, holding his hand over his mouth to amplify his shouts. But Ruby grabbed one of his elbows.

"Wait, let's see what happens." She mused to the both of them. Chance ducked an elbow, before smacking his forearm to Rock's chest with a loud clap. Striking more and more forearm strikes to his chest and neck making Morrison stumble back. He grew angry, swinging a lariat over Chance's ducking head as he broke out into a run. He lept on the ropes opposite of Rock, springboarding back and smashing his knee into his face with a sudden gush of blood hitting the mat as the two of them crashing to the ground. Chance stumbled over on one leg, lying on top of him.

"One! Tw-" Morrison kicked out very quickly, not even the cut on his lip was enough to keep him down.

"Damn kid screwed up my face!" He said aloud to allow the crowd to hear him, instantly getting up and stomping on Logan's leg, which still was sore from the fact he smashed it into the side of Morrison's thick, vain skull. "Let's see how you like it, you scrawny little dope!" He shouted, grabbing his leg and kicking him in the hamstring, making sure that Logan can't use it to outrun him. The crowd was now fully against Morrison, whose act had worn thin over the past few months, but this bit of brutality against the fan favorite Bullet Demon was the final straw. Suddenly, Chance swung his free leg to try and kick him in the face, but Morrison scouted it and leaned his head back so it just barely missed. "Ha!" he exclaimed, when suddenly he got kicked in the chest. Logan sprung the kick back and used the momentum to make Rock stumble back as he rolled forward back onto his feet, though now clearly favoring his good leg. Chance walked up, grabbing him by the arm and striking him several times, before twisting his arm and performing a hip toss sending Morrison on the ground. He then went onto the apron, leaping into the air with a springboard knee drop on his chest.

"Uhh.. Jaune?" Ruby asked, getting out of her seat.

"What is it?" Jaune replied. "Uhh.. I need to use the restroom. I might have gone overboard on the soda..." she said, Jaune pointing toward the nearby door.

"Should be down the hall and to the… left. Yeah, left." he said, Ruby quickly rushing out of her seat and back up the stairs out of the arena, looking for the restroom before the worst could happen.


	25. Renewal, Part 2

Ruby shut off the faucet, grabbing an excessive amount of paper towels from the dispenser to dry them off. "Jeez kid, think your hands are dry enough?" the woman at the sink asked, Ruby turning around to see Valor Arc standing there, pumping out two squirts of liquid soap.

"Oh! Hey, Valerie!" Ruby said, the older Arc turning and looking at Ruby suspiciously.

"The heck do you know my real name? You're not one of those obsessive loons who has to know everything about their favorite fighters, are you?" she asked, Ruby quickly shaking her head.

"N-no! I'm here w-with your brother Jaune and I figured you wouldn't mind being called your real name is all!" Ruby said nervously, Valerie smiling and shutting off the faucet, shaking her hands a bit.

"Sweet, Jaune's here. How's he been doing at Beacon?" she asked, Ruby telling Valerie about the incident with Alpha Ursa, losing herself in the excitement of telling the story and exaggerating the details with each sentence.

"And he just kept stabbing and stabbing until he was coated in the Alpha's blood!" Ruby said breathlessly, Valerie barely able to keep herself from laughing.

"Stop, stop! You're killing me!" she said, holding her side with one arm and keeping her free hand on the sink to retain balance. "Ah man, you're like Claire when a new animal's born on the farm. Anyway, I'd better get going. You need anything signed while I'm here?" Valerie asked, Ruby shaking her head.

"Well, no. But I was wondering if you could help me talk to Chance after the show." she asked.

"I think I can tell him you'll be stopping by, you just gotta do one thing for me; you need to get Jaune to come by my locker room. It's Renewal and I'm not leaving here without seeing my baby brother." the older Arc explained, Ruby smiling and nodding.

"Deal." the young Huntress-in-training said, the two shaking hands and heading off, Ruby running back to the arena.

She found her seat quickly, an eye on the match, seeing Chance lift Rock off the mat and hooking it under his arm. He lifted Morrison off the mat, holding it for a few seconds before driving his head into the mat, going for the cover. The crowd chanted along with the referee "One! Two! Three!" the crowd erupted in cheers, Ruby quickly standing on her chair and screaming in joy.

"HE DID IT! HE GOT THE BELT! WHOOOOO!" she exclaimed as the referee handed Chance the title, the newly-crowned champion slowly coming to his feet, exhaustively holding the belt in one arm. The crowd chanted "Bul-Let De-Mon!" as he climbed each turnbuckle, raising the belt up to another wave of cheers at each turnbuckle, the body paint having partly melted away with sweat. Chance rolled out of the ring, heading up the ramp as Jaune got up.

"Alright, show's over. You wanna head backstage and maybe get a few autographs?" he asked, Ruby smiling and climbing off her chair.

"Yeah, let's get going." Ruby said, the two heading further down the stairs toward the security barrier, flashing their backstage passes to the nearby guard. The guard nodded, opening the barrier and escorting the two up the ramp and past the curtain.

The two walked by, passing by wrestlers and other guest-passers on the way to Valerie's locker room, Ruby leading the way. She knocked on the door, Valerie opening it dressed in a Valor Arc t-shirt over her wrestling attire, a smile breaking out over her face. "Hey there, little bro. Good to see you again." she said, pulling him into a hug. Jaune smiled, reciprocating the hug. Ruby watched the two siblings hug, feeling a warmth in her heart that made her feel better for having made peace with Yang that morning.

"Happy Renewal, Valerie." he said, pulling himself away only to feel his sister tug at his arm, forcing it behind his back and holding it. "Ow! OW! Arm!" Jaune said, Valerie chuckling.

"C'mon, Jaune. You can't tell me you forgot our old handshake, did ya? ...Man, your arm's gotten a bit more defined. You've been working out for once!" she said, twisting on the arm slightly.

"I...uh… I hate to interrupt this… moment of family… bonding?" Ruby said at a loss for words at what she was seeing. "But I was wondering if you could direct me to Chance's room?" she asked.

"Oh yeah! I owe you that favor, don't I? Just three doors down and you should be there. Word of advice: Make sure to keep your shoes on when you walk around Chance's room." Valerie said.

"Uhh… right, thanks. Well, seeya Jaune. Don't tap out, okay?" Ruby said as she headed off, making her way to the door with Valerie's warning sticking to her mind. What did she mean by keep her shoes on? She knocked on the door, getting a "come in!" in response so she opened the door peering inside.

Ruby soon got her answer as she looked around and saw a scattered collection of small colored bricks on the locker room floor, an unpainted Chance sitting on the floor with a bright red plastic briefcase of the bricks by his side and was building a small gray tower that had surrounded the smaller buildings. "...Uh… am I interrupting something?" Ruby asked, completely thrown off by the sight of the man whose body was painted as a monstrous dragon was now sitting and playing with toys.

"Huh? Oh, hello. Don't worry, just working on Beacon." he said, Ruby's eyes lighting up as she walked over and bent down to get a better look at Beacon tower.

"Ooh, it looks great! Need any help?" she asked, Chance nodding and moving the briefcase closer towards Ruby.

"...C'mon Chance, you know nobody cares about Beacon." Valerie complained, Jaune still fumbling around in various joint locks his sister keeps daring him to escape from.

"Mind your business, Arc." he sniped back jokingly.

"Our biggest star, Jaune; he plays with Click'n Brikz." she said, Jaune simply letting out a small gasp of pain.

"Let go of my arm! This isn't how I wanted to spend my Renewal!" Jaune cried out as Ruby simply focused on building the tower, hoping that the insanity around her wouldn't catch up to her.

"The reason I like to do this is that it helps to balance the violence with creativity, there's something about balancing creation with destruction that keeps my head steady and lets me control my temper." Chance mused, clicking a part of the main tower where Ozpin usually resides. "I also like to make models of each place I visit, I keep them at my house."

"..That is the dorkiest thing I have ever heard, Chance. And I've lived with Jaune for seventeen years." Valerie deadpanned.

"Sixteen, actually. I left Patch before my seventeenth bir-AHHHH!" Jaune said, cut off by his older sister wrenching on his arm. Ruby looked around in the briefcase for a pair of green legs to go with the chest.

"I think it's cool. Hrm, black chest, brown hair, blue brick, blue brick, pink brick..." Ruby said as she began shuffling through the case for gray hair. "Stupid Ozpin, why can't he look like normal people?" she exclaimed.

"Ah, I thought you looked familiar. You're from the entrance exam, right?" Chance asked, Ruby looking up from the case.

"Oh! Right! I need to ask something of you." Ruby said, turning to the Arcs. "Uh… would you guys mind?" she asked politely, Valerie pulling Jaune away.

"Seriously, you're still grabbing my arm?" Jaune asked as their voices faded from the hallway. Ruby took a deep breath, a creeping nervousness taking over.

"Right… so, when we first met you kicked my butt all around for a solid minute in front of all the students. And sure, that was a bit embarrassing but I could live with that! I mean, everyone has to start somewhere, but then during Final Harvest I got into… an incident where I didn't have Crescent Rose and I ended up with a horribly burnt hand. Oh, don't worry! It's all better! See?" she said, holding up her hand briefly before continuing her breathless monologue. "But the whole thing made me realize that I don't know how to fight without a scythe and that I needed someone to teach me, and sure, I could ask around Beacon but you're so fast that I thought it'd be great to ask someone who's more experience with using a speed Semblance at how to fight. I mean, at least I think you have a speed Semblance. Oh no, what if you don't have a speed Semblance at all? What if your Semblance is something like the ability to turn into metal or levitate small dogs or be really good at painting yourself and I just made a huge mistake? I've just wasted your time! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Sorry…"" Ruby said, mumbling out her apology. Chance chuckled, ruffling her hair. "Why does everyone mess up my hair?" she asked quietly, patting her hair back.

"Well, you were actually right in that I do have a speed Semblance. That was a lucky guess. However, I didn't use it to beat you." he explained, Ruby's head drooping down.

"Really?" she asked, mortified at the idea of losing to someone without having seen his Semblance in action.

"Mhm. Nor did I use Aura. Most of it was pure athletics and experience. When you're a wrestler, you can't be going so fast the audience and cameras can't pick up on and a faster speed makes it harder to time things so you put yourself and your opponent at risk." Chance explained, slowly heading out the door. "However, if you want a demonstration of my Semblance, I'd be happy to accommodate." he said, stepping out into the hall with Ruby following after.

Within seconds, Chance had turned into a blur dashing by, a clattering sound coming from far end of the hall and cry of "Damn it! My melons!" before Chance returned with a box of pizza and two water bottles. "Want some pizza?" he asked, Ruby's jaw wide open in amazement.

"Whoa…" was all she could get out as he smiled, sitting down into a cross-legged position and opening up the box.

"I think I've proved my point on why I don't fight at that speed. Anyway, you mentioned something about wanting me to teach you, right?" he asked, Ruby nodding with her jaw still agape. "Well, normally I wouldn't but there's something about your enthusiasm. Your willingness to just go to any end to get what you want and not let anything stop you. I was the same way when I was about your age… so I guess I can make time to teach you, but there are two things you have to understand." Chance said, holding up a finger. "First is that the training will be intensive. I'm sure you've heard this kind of rhetoric from every one of your teachers at Beacon," he began, Ruby finally shutting her jaw and nodding her head. "But it applies here as well. I didn't become VWA Champion by taking the easy road." Chance explained before holding up a second finger.

"Secondly, as I said there will be times I won't be there to train you. However, I will try to compensate by sending you letters with advice and instructions for the week. You think you can handle that?" he asked, Ruby clearing her throat.

"Just one question: if you're this fast then why not become a Huntsman?" she asked, Chance rubbing his chin in thought.

"Hrm… you're a bit young to understand but I had considered it when, well.. let's say I stepped past a line I shouldn't have during the Vytal Festival Tournament." he said. "Any other questions?" Chance asked, Ruby thinking carefully.

"Oh, and why do you paint yourself as a Grimm when you wrestle?" she asked.

"Well, here's your first lesson. It's called the Demon." he said calmly, Ruby backing away slowly.

"Oh, it's not a literal demon. It's more a state of mind. It's about releasing all control over your most primal state. In the midst of a fight, there are often things in your mind that are a constant, things that you think about that distract you. Your ambitions, your friends, your wants… It fades to the back of your mind, and all you think about is victory at … well... Any cost." he explained, Ruby shuddering slightly.

"Sounds… dangerous." Ruby said.

"It can be, the version I use at events is an act, but the real one needs to be used with tact and a proper conscience." the Bullet Demon said, finishing off his slice of pizza and getting up. "Anyway, I think you'd best be get going, unless you have any more questions." he asked, Ruby shaking her head. "Good, then I have a Beacon to complete." Chance said, heading for his room.

"Oh! Be sure to put Professor Ozpin in his chair!" Ruby said, walking off to collect Jaune who she had hoped didn't need to be put in the hospital by the time she got there. She knocked on Valerie's door, Valerie opening the door. "Hey, Valerie. I'm here to pick up Jaune. He tap out yet?" she asked, the older Arc laughing a bit.

"Nah, he's held himself together pretty well. But if you gotta go…" Valerie said, shutting the door in front of Ruby. After a brief bit of conversation, Jaune stepped out the door, carrying a small wrapped object, "Don't be a stranger, Jaune! I'm gonna be in Vale for a few months!" Valerie said, giving Jaune a quick hug which caused him to wince.

"Anh… I'll see you when my arm gets better, sis…" Jaune gasped out, Ruby not feeling the same warmth from their first hug as Valerie let go, the two Beacon students heading for the exit.

"So, you got another gift from Valerie?" Ruby asked as Jaune rubbed his arm, holding the package underneath it.

"Nah, this one got sent to her from by Simone and Louise. I'm a bit nervous about opening it…" he said as they made their way out of the building.

"Why's that? You think they sent you a bomb or something?" Ruby asked, Jaune's eyes widening.

"No, not that! it's just… well, it's a bit of a long story, but Simone's a writer and Louise is an artist. They make comics for a living and like every comic creator, they had to get their start somewhere…" Jaune said, sitting down on the stairs with the gift in his lap. "And their start was making stick figure comics of me as a complete wimp of a knight who kept getting bested by anything. Grimm, mobsters, old ladies…one of them even got put on the fridge for a while. So, I'm not sure this is gonna be any different…" Jaune said with a sigh.

"Ah, c'mon Jaune. It's Renewal, get into the spirit and open it up. It can't be that bad…" she said, giving him a reassuring pat on the back.

"Well... if you say so…" Jaune said, gingerly unwrapping the package to see a book inside with Jaune on the cover. The cover caught Jaune off guard as he was clad in shining white armor wielding a weathered sword. "What… is that? Oh, no way! The original Crocea Mors wielded by Claire the Uniter! It looks just like in the tapestry!" Jaune said with a gleam in his eye. He flipped open the book, seeing the title of the book "Jaune the Protector: Into the Heart of the Pack." He read the comic,which was a beautifully drawn tale of Jaune acting as a guardian for a group of nomads as they made their way through the thick forests of Vale, battling a massive pack of Beowolves to guide them to safety. With each page, Jaune's smile grew wider and wider still.

He read the entire book without stopping, coming to the end with yet another illustration of Jaune standing against a sunset backdrop with a sword coated in Grimm blood, holding a Beowolf's head in the other hand, next to it was a dedication. "To our little brother, Jaune. The boy with the stick sword all grown up." Tears welled up in his eyes, nearly falling onto the pages. "I… I don't know what to say… this is wonderful... " Jaune said, choked up and wiping his eyes on his sleeve. Ruby smiled but noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

"Uhh… Jaune… I'd hate to bring this up, but… there's something wrong with the drawing… you're…. uh…" Ruby said, not sure if she wanted to bring this up and ruin such a touching moment.

"I'm what? What is it, Ruby?" he asked as he dried his eyes.

"You're.. you're cross-eyed." she said, pointing to the eyes in the illustration. Jaune looked down, seeing that Ruby wasn't lying and that he was indeed cross-eyed in the picture. He flipped back a few pages to another profile of him and he was cross-eyed there too. Another page, same dopey eyes. He even saw pages with other characters that were straight-eyed with only his eyes being off-center. Jaune let out a heavy sigh, shutting the book.

"Of course they'd do that, damn it..." he said as he got up, heading down the stairs with Ruby following after.

"Hey! Wait up! It's not that bad, Jaune! You can just focus on the fight scenes! No one pays attention to the boring parts, right? Right?!" Ruby shouted, trying to catch up with him.

"...Can we just go back to Beacon already? I hate Renewal..."


	26. Renewal, Part 3

"Come on, Blake! The sun is going down fast and I want to get some shopping done before the best stores close!" Weiss said from outside the dorm.

"I'm not going out there and freezing! You might be immune to cold, Snow Queen, but some of us have to wrap up!" Blake shouted back, a zipping sound coming from the door. After another minute, Blake stepped out in a large black coat with a bright orange scarf around her mouth and a tasseled snow hat on top.

"Blake…" Weiss said, Blake nodding and letting out a muffled "Yes?" through the scarf. "You look like a penguin." the Schnee heiress said with a smirk.

"... I'm nrt a pmngrn" Blake said completely muffled, glaring at Weiss who simply chuckled and started walking.

"Don't worry, we'll buy you some fish along the way. It'll take about an hour, unless you want me to ride on your back while you slide down a hill." she joked, Blake letting out a low growl through the warm fabric.

The two friends headed out, stopping at the gate and swiping their I.D. cards. "Student IDs Accepted. Weiss Schnee, Year 1. Blake Belladonna, Year 1. Have a Happy Renewal!" the card reader said in its robotically chipper tone.

"...Really? They programmed it to tell us that? Seems like a waste of taxpayer dollars." Blake said, pulling down her scarf.

"Well, sending penguins to school is a waste too." Weiss said, Blake glaring back at her.

"Stop it." she said as the gate finally opened.

"March!" Weiss shouted, waddling back and forth through the gate.

"Why are we friends again?" Blake asked as she walked out of the gate, heading onto the sidewalk, Weiss ending her march of the penguin and following after her.

"So, where are we going first?" Weiss asked.

"Well, first is getting the _Kings & Pawns Collection_ for Ruby and I know just the place to get it." Blake said, Weiss rolling her eyes.

"I can't believe you associate with that farmgirl. How does she not drive you insane? She's like a small dog pretending to be a person." she said, Blake putting on a quick smirk.

"She's usually quieter when she's reading. In fact, I'm a bit cash-strapped and the Collection's pricey. Maybe if you buy it for her she'll leave you alone." the "penguin" said, Weiss opening her mouth to object to the idea before stopping and thinking on it.

"Perhaps you're right…" she admitted as Blake came to a stop at a nearby store. The store had opaque white windows and a green stone banner reading "Tukson's Book Trade" in golden letters. Blake stepped through the doors to the familiar spruce bookshelves and peppermint aroma that wafted through the store, Weiss following behind. Blake looked over at all the books, grabbing at her pouch to remind herself to keep her purchases low in the store. "Hrm… I must admit, the atmosphere is rather nice here." Weiss said as she walked over the counter, ringing the bell twice. Within a few seconds, a man with short black hair, black muttonchops and hazel eyes dressed in a red short-sleeve shirt stepped up to the counter.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade. Home to every book under the sun. How can I help you?" the man said, Weiss giving a curtsy.

"Greetings, Tukson. I was hoping you'd have the… what was it called again, Blake?" Weiss asked, turning to Blake who was looking over a copy of _The Thief and the Butcher_.

" _Kings & Pawns Collection_." Blake said bluntly, the storekeeper smiling.

"Hey kid, how's Beacon been treating you? Glad to see your nose isn't broken anymore." Tukson said, Blake smiling as she skimmed through a few pages of _Violet's Garden_.

"Thanks Tukson. Still haven't replaced the fluorescents? That humming is gonna drive me nuts." Blake said, Tukson rolling his eyes.

"It's not in the budget, Blake. Get off my back." he said jokingly, Weiss clearing her throat.

"So, I see you two are well acquainted…" Weiss said, Blake turning her head and nodding to her friend.

"I've been going to Tukson's Book Trade since I arrived in Vale. It's a nice place to read and relax after a long day of studying." she said, looking back to the shelves and grabbing another book.

"She's one of my best customers. Always comes in with a little gift. Speaking of. you got a Renewal gift for me, Blake?" he asked, Blake stopping her book search and reaching into her bad.

"Of course I do. You'd think I'd forget?" she said, stepping up the counter and placing a metal file onto the counter. "Your claws have been getting jagged these days. You gotta take better care of yourself, Tukson." Blake explained, Tukson sighing and shaking his head with a smile across his face.

"Thanks, Blake. It's just what I've always wanted…" he said sarcastically, withdrawing a set of long black claws from the fingertips on his right hand and filing it.

Weiss's eyes widened as she slowly walked out of the store, feeling a sharp pain in her back as she shut the door, taking rapid breaths and clutching gently at her chest. "Weiss? Are you okay?" Blake asked, the Schnee heiress seeing her standing in the store's doorway.

"I-I'm fine… it was getting a bit stuffy in there. H-here!" she said, tossing her loaded pouch to Blake, who quickly caught in. "G-get whatever you need, I'll just wait out here!" she said, Blake looking at her friend for a few seconds before uttering a quick "I'll be back in a minute" before returning to the bookstore. Weiss took a deep breath, the pain in her back subsiding. "It's not him… it's not him, Weiss… he's just a bookstore clerk… it's not- AHHH!" Weiss exclaimed as she heard the door open behind her, turning sharply to see Blake standing in front of her with a plastic bag holding a box of five books in her hand.

"...Weiss, are you okay?" she asked, Weiss giving a shaking nod.

"Y-yeah, you just startled me is all. You got what you need?" Weiss asked, Blake holding up the plastic bag. "Good. We'd better get moving…" she said, making her way down the sidewalk with Blake following after her. The overcovered woman grabbed Weiss' shoulder.

"Weiss, listen. Before we get to the next person on my list, I want to make sure you're alright. I don't want you having an episode in the middle of another store." she said, Weiss sighing a bit.

"Fine… I was a bit nervous around Tukson... it's not something I want to get into, but let's just say I don't exactly get along with Fauni." Weiss said, looking away from Blake.

"And what is that supposed to mean, exactly?" Blake asked in confrontational tone.

"I said I don't want to talk about this! Can we get off the topic of Fauni and get back to shopping?" Weiss asked, glaring at Blake.

"...Well, that's gonna be difficult since my next gift is going to be for Velvet., so…" Blake said, looking away from her partner in Renewal shopping.

"...Don't worry, Velvet's the exception. I know just the place to go!" Weiss said, a faint smile on her face as she lead the way to a nearby antiques store. The store's window had several knick-knacks and oddities on display, Weiss looking over the window display for a bit before smiling. "Yes! It's still there! Come on, Blake! Before we get eaten by seals!" she called, Blake running faster, fueled by her annoyance at the constant penguin jokes as they stepped inside the store. The inside was somewhat dusty with dim lightning. "Man, no one in this district puts lighting in their budget, do they?" Weiss asked, Blake chuckling a bit though still unsure if Weiss was all there. She seemed a bit too enthusiastic about this experience given what had happened.

"Weiss, are you feel-" Blake asked, being cut off by the sound of Weiss ringing the counter's bell. A giant of a man with a wild white beard that seemed to be bigger than his own head and beady blue eyes clad in heavy maroon coat.

"Ohohohoho! Do my eyes deceive me? Weiss Schnee in my humble little shop?" the storekeeper said in a jolly baritone, his stomach shaking hypnotically with laughter.

"Ah, yes. I'd like to beard something- I mean buy something!" Weiss said, hoping he didn't notice her slip of the tongue.

"Ah, yes! What can I interest you in?" he asked, Weiss trying to not lose herself staring at his massive beard.

"It's like it's consuming his face… Oh! Uh… I mean! I-I was hoping to buy the m-music box on the display, please!" Weiss stammered, Blake resisting the urge to smile at seeing the usually calm and collected Schnee being so flummoxed.

"Ohohohhohoho! That old thing? Why yes, it should be 50 Lien for it!" he said, Weiss looking into her pouch and pouring out five gold coins with small chips of emerald embedded in them. "Yes, yes! Thank you, Ms. Schnee. Will your friend be needing anything as well?" he asked, pointing to Blake, who was looking at some of the old, dust-covered books, Weiss slowly grinning and emptying her pouch.

"I'll take all the books on the shelf!" she demanded, Blake looking up and uttering a quick "Wha?" as the old storekeeper walked over, grabbing as many books as he could in his first go and began ringing them all up. By the end of the process, the man's beard could be barely seen from the tower of books in front of them.

"That will be... 275 Lien. Good choice, Ms. Schnee! You got those books on clearance!" he said, counting coins on the counter while Weiss and Blake worked on putting away as many books as they could into their bags.

"If it's not too late, maybe he'll give you back five less Lien for a refu-Ack!" Blake exclaimed as a large burlap satchel was thrown to the floor in front of them.

"On the house!" the storekeeper said as he carried a jingling pouch of coins to the back. The junior Huntresses loaded the books into the satchel, Weiss swinging the loaded bag onto her back and walking out the door, Blake carrying her book collection in one hand and the music box in the other.

"Weiss, why did you buy all those books?" Blake asked as they continued their trek through the Market Quarter.

"It makes for an easier gift exchange. Like gift cards but without the looks of disappointment." Weiss explained, Blake rolling her eyes at this.

"If you say so… I think we're all set after this. We'd better get back to Beacon and get to work on wrapping." Blake said, Weiss nodding and moving carefully to not upset the satchel of books. The two made the long walk back to Beacon, Weiss becoming more and more exhausted from carrying the books. As they arrived at the gate, she fell onto the satchel, the various edges and hardbacks feeling like a mattress for the Schnee heiress.

"Ah… this is nicer than it should be…" Weiss said, sinking further into the satchel as Blake scanned in her I.D. Card.

"C'mon, Weiss. Hand me your card, we gotta get this stuff wrapped." Blake said, holding a hand out. Weiss lazily reached into her pocket, handing Blake her I.D. card, Blake sighing and swiping the card.

"Welcome back and have a happy Renewal, -Blake- and -Weiss-." the card reader emitted as the gate opened once more, Blake grabbing the resting Weiss and pulling her back to her feet.

"Here, we'll switch bags. You carry my gifts and I'll carry yours." she said, handing Weiss the two bags and reaching down to pick up the heavy satchel

"Fair enough. March!" Weiss exclaimed, waddling towards the school, Blake growled a bit but soon started to laugh as Weiss' penguin march.

"Okay, okay. We march." Blake said, waddling after Weiss. The two laughed as they made their way back to the school, stopping their penguin march upon reaching the door, their smiles subsiding.

"No one will ever know we did this." Weiss said bluntly, Blake nodding in agreement as they went through the doors. They headed their way down to the dining hall, seeing that tables had been pushed back and several spruce trees had been placed around, covered in colorful lights and decorations, people gathered around in groups and handing out gifts. Weiss had spotted Emerald giving Mercury a new pair of boots, Mercury grinning from ear to ear.

"Wow, thanks Emerald! These are awesome! Love the wings!" he said, gently poking the wings on the sides of the boots.

"Glad you like them, Merc. So, what did you get me?" she asked, Mercury's smile sticking as he handed her an emerald necklace.

"Eh… Ehh? How about it? Doyaliiiiiiiikeit?" Mercury said, pointing at her with two finger-guns. Emerald stared at the the necklace and then slowly looked up at him with a look of pure murderous contempt. Weiss quickly scurried off to hide, hearing cries of "You're gonna die, Merc! I guarantee it!" coming from the table mixed with the sounds of running, things being knocked over and Mercury laughing himself into a mixture of fear and hysteria.

She made it to table where Team ANVL, Velvet, Blake and Ruby sat, Ruby having amassed a massive pile of gifts. "What is this? Farmgirl, how did you get so many gifts already?" she asked incredulously.

"Well, half of them are Yang's…" Ruby replied, looking through her bag for Weiss' gift, Weiss taking a seat beside her.

"So Weiss, Blake says you've got a big bag of gifts for us. Wanna pass a few around?" Pyrrha asked, Weiss nodding and smiling, reaching into her satchel and pulling out a book.

"For Jaune." she said, handing him the book.

"... _The Big Book of Sheep, 101 Steps to Creating the Next Big Lamb Farm_ …?" he asked, reading the title aloud in complete bafflement.

"Well, you did say you lived on a farm, so I figured you'd want to get a start on… raising the sheeps!" Weiss said with artificial enthusiasm, giving Jaune a thumbs-up.

"...Weiss, we have crops, cows, chicken and even sheep for the last 70 years. I think we've covered our bases." Jaune said bluntly.

"Look, it's the thought that counts!" Weiss snapped, Jaune letting out a yelp and nodding as she passed more mismatched books over to the rest of the group.

"Anh! Uh… W-Weiss… Velvet stuttered out as she looked at her book, blushing beet red at the cover image of a long haired, lantern jawed muscular man shirtless and draped in red silk covering anything below his waist. " _To Tame A Lion, Romance of the Colosseum_?" she asked, hands trembling and about the drop the book while Weiss rubbed the back of her head.

"Eheheheheh… well, I figured you've been getting older and you haven't got a boyfriend yet, so-" Weiss said, Velvet standing up and putting her hands on the table.

"You don't have one either!" she exclaimed in an exasperated tone.

"Hey! I have an image to maintain! I can't just go with any poor schlub that gives me the time of day!" Weiss shouted back.

"...I hate Renewal" Jaune muttered while they argued, slumped into his seat looking at his book of sheep.

"Don't worry, Jaune. I don't think Weiss meant you." Ren said calmly, Jaune's eyes widening.

"What? No! I mean I'm sick of having teenage girls yelling while I sit in silent rumination be a Renewal tradition for me!" Jaune exclaimed, Ren shrugging.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I got you a hat." Ren said, placing a small green and yellow striped hat with a small green puff ball on top onto his head.

"I _really_ hate Renewal…" Jaune grumbled, Nora playfully batting at the puffball, Blake staring at the madness in front of her with a quizzical expression.

"Well… this has been fun but I'd better take my… advanced robotics book and all of Yang's… stuff… and get going. I'm sure she'll love a book on… the history of the Mistral Trade Routes… Yeeeeaaahh." Ruby said, awkwardly stuffing everything she could into her hands and walking out. Ren opened his book _How Trees Work: An Arboreal Adventure_ and began reading.

"Fascinating." he said, Weiss breaking from her heated argument to let out a confident smile.

"Finally! Someone who appreciates my efforts!" she exclaimed, turning to Blake. "Now, Blake. You may be wondering where your gift is." Weiss said, Blake dreading the possible book on proper silverware cleaning or the art of stamp collecting.

"Well, I was rather hoping you didn't get me anything…" she said, Weiss letting out her signature laugh.

"Ohohohohoho~ How could I possibly forget Madame Belladonna?"she said with an overly stuffy accent and a painful-looking smile.

"Please stop. I want the old, snippy Weiss back." Blake muttered under her breath.

"Well, don't you fret as you will be getting ALL OF THESE!" Weiss said, pouring books onto the table, overtaking most of the gifts and some spilling onto the floor.

"Ren... Weiss is scaring me. She has so much holiday spirit I think she's going to start vomiting joy." Jaune muttered.

"Wow… look at that kindling, Blake! You'll have roasted pork for weeks!" Nora said excitedly, Weiss waving her off.

"Oh, don't be silly, Nora! Blake would absolutely adore…" She said, reaching into the pile of books and looking at a title " _Are You Afraid of the Bears?_ " Blake burying herself into her scarf.

"Your gift is upstairs under your bed. You will not be asked back to Renewal…" she muttered, Weiss smiling and bowing.

"G'day then, friends! And a happy Renewal to all!" Weiss said giddily, skipping away and passing Emerald attempting to throttle Mercury with the necklace.

"I feel like I'm hallucinating." Blake muttered, looking around the room to see if the insanity wore off yet.

Weiss made her way to the dorm, the big fake smile slowly dropping with each step as she entered the empty room. "WHAT was that, Weiss? You get one chance a year to spend time with your friends and now most of them think you're a closeted psychopath!" she said, dropping backfirst onto the bed. "I guess that's what I get for trying to do things the 'right' way..." she said, looking up at the ceiling when the door clicked, turning to see Blake slowly step in. The Schnee heiress sprang herself up into a sitting with a wide grin.

"Cut it out." Blake said bluntly, Weiss' smile dropping immediately.

"Blake… why can't I have friends? Why do I keep failing to make friends?" Weiss asked, Blake slowly walking over and sitting next to her.

"Because you're forcing yourself too far into it. When we were penguin walking to the school, it was fun and I could tell you were enjoying yourself. But then you got up to diving board and made a running leap into the deep end." the older Huntress explained, Weiss shutting her eyes and nodding. "Weiss… what is this all about?" Blake asked, Weiss taking a deep breath.

"You know how Jaune says he hates Renewal? Well, I've hated it for a long time too. My father always spent more time focusing on his business meetings, mom was busy socializing and Winter had her training in Mantle… then she became an apprentice to General Ironwood and soon she had no time. Velvet would try to help, but she was occupied with housekeeping to stay for more than an hour at a time. Renewal dinner was the only time we'd be together and we'd all just sit in silence before I was sent up and find a pile of gifts on my bed. it might have cost more than a normal gift but... he didn't know what I liked, so he just threw money at the problem." Weiss explained, tears falling down her cheeks. Blake put a hand on Weiss' shoulder, lightly rubbing her shoulder and pulling them a bit closer together.

"But this is a new chapter in your life. You might not know how to do things, but this is a clean slate. It's like Professor Ozpin said. Everything you were before you came here doesn't matter, I'm not your father, Ruby isn't your sister, we have both time to listen to you and we all care about how you feel. So focus on being yourself, and just try and be happy for yourself and not because you want us to be happy, okay? No more forced smiling." Blake said, smiling as Weiss tightly wrapped herself around her friend.

"Thank you so much, Blake! I don't know how I can ever repay you!" she said shakily, staining Blake's shirt with tears. Blake gently pulled her away.

"You can start by looking under your bed." she said calmly, Weiss nodding and wiping her eyes before getting up and bending down to look underneath her bed. She let out a gasp as she got up, bringing with her a beautifully-crafted white wooden violin and bow.

"Blake… I don't know what to say…" Weiss said, breathing heavily in excitement.

"Well.. Don't break it. That cost a lot from my stipend, I had to not eat for a week pay for it." Blake explained nonchalantly, a genuine smile forming on Weiss' face.

"I-I will! I'll take good care of and clean it every week and-" Weiss began excitedly, Blake holding up a hand.

"You were going to do it again. How about instead you play a Renewal song?" Blake suggested, Weiss nodding and putting the violin under her chin, pulling back the bow and producing what sounded more like a dying cat. Blake put her hands on her head, gritting her teeth in pain.

"Maybe you should try and practice first…"


	27. Red Lantern Pier, Part 1

Professor Ozpin took a sip of his coffee as he looked outside his office window, the sky a brilliant blue on the early spring morning. "Ah, there truly is nothing better than a quiet spring morning to start things off, eh Glynda?" the headmaster asked, Glynda nodding in response.

"Indeed it is, Professor. No monster attacks, no students picking fights… an Atlesian Airfleet just outside your window…" she said slowly, Ozpin looking up and nearly choking on his coffee, dropping the cup onto the floor, Glynda quickly catching it with her semblance. Ozpin coughed a bit at the sight of twenty massive white and gray airships, all looking heavily armed to the teeth with cannons and robotic soldiers. At the center of the fleet was the largest ship with a railgun cannon aimed directly at Ozpin, the headmaster gripping his cane tightly when a beeping sound pinged on his desk. Glynda stepped over to the desk, pressing a button on Ozpin's laptop. A flickering holographic image of a man with short black hair and dark blue eyes appeared. He was wearing a white overcoat, gray undercoat and red tie, all tinged a sickly green from the hologram.

"General James Ironwood of Mantle Academy requesting to land the Avalon." the holographic man stated, Ozpin sighing and rubbing his temples.

"Damn it, James…" Ozpin said.

"General James Ironwood of Mantle Academy. Second request for landing. Failure to comply will result in immediate retaliation." the hologram said in a somewhat threatening manner.

"...How many are joining you?" Ozpin asked, Glynda standing behind the desk with her glasses in one hand, the other pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Lower the cannons, prepare the confetti." the holographic Ironwood declared with little change in his stoic expression before shutting off communication. The Avalon descended with the remaining ships pulling in their cannons.

"Well, crisis averted…" Ozpin said with a sigh of relief before hearing the sound of cannons being loaded.

"You said you would lower the cannons!" the headmaster shouted as the cannons aimed downward, terrifying the citizens who were already uncomfortable with what they perceived to be an invading force. The cannons fired, launching bursts of confetti down onto the crowd. The panic was brief as they saw it was not a full bombing. The crowd's reaction mixed from sighs of relief, annoyed groans and bewildered looks. A few visiting Atlesians simply shrugged. Ozpin had his hands gripped into his hair as the Avalon touched down.

"You must admit, Professor. The General certainly knows how to make an entrance." Glynda said, politely walking out to meet with their arriving guest and give the Headmaster some time to calm himself. Within minutes, the door opened again Glynda and General Ironwood entering with two others. Two the General's left was a tall woman with light blonde hair and ice blue eyes wearing similar clothes to James. Her hair was tied into a bun, barring the bangs that covered over the right side of her face. To his right was young girl with short, curly orange hair and bright green eyes. She was wearing a white overcoat that looked to be too big for her covering a lime green blouse, wrapped overtop by a pair of black overalls. She was clad in black leather boots with neon green lining and had a black bow on the back of her head. "General James Ironwood and guests, Professor." Glynda said, stepping side and allowing the stone-faced man to step forward. The two headmasters stared each other down for a minute before General Ironwood extended a hand with a smile.

"Oz, it's been too long." he said, Ozpin shaking his hand.

"Indeed it has, James. Perhaps you would like to introduce your guests before it stops raining confetti." the Beacon Headmaster replied.

"I only brought so much confetti. This is a more… cordial affair. But on to the introductions. First is Lieutenant Winter Schnee." Ironwood said, turning to the blonde woman who gave a polite bow.

"It is an honor to be in audience with you, Headmaster Ozpin. The General has spoken quite highly of you often." Winter said, returning to a standing position.

"The same could be said of yourself, Lieutenant Schnee." Ozpin replied, taking a sip of coffee. "Classes have only started, but I assume Weiss wouldn't mind missing a lesson to see her older sister. If you wish to see her, now would be an excellent time." he offered, Winter smiling and turning to Ironwood.

"General, may I-" she began, James holding up a hand.

"You are dismissed, Lieutenant Schnee." Ironwood said, Winter giving a quick salute before leaving the room. Ozpin walked up to the young girl, bending down to reach eye level with her.

"But you I am unaware of. General Ironwood does certainly have an affinity for younger women, but I was not expecting him to be allowing a child onto the Avalon. What is your name?" he asked with a warm smile, the orange-haired girl saluting the Beacon headmaster.

"Penny Polendina, reporting for duty, Professor Ozpin… you have 15 gray spots in your hair." the child said, Ozpin's smile dropping immediately as Glynda could barely suppress her grin.

"I like her already, James." the deputy headmistress said as James ruffled Penny's hair.

"Yes, my apprentice is quite perceptive at times. Perhaps you should consider using my brand, Oz. Work in a touch of gray on each side, Ladies love the natural look." Ironwood said with a smile, Glynda rolling her eyes behind him.

"...I'll take that into consideration, James. But you referred to Penny as your apprentice. Winter has finally ended her tutelage under you, I presume?" he asked, the General nodding.

"Indeed, she has already become one my best lieutenants. She may even surpass this old hound." he explained, Penny looking up.

"You're not that old, Mr. Ironwood." Penny said, looking up and smiling at James, who patted her on the head.

"Thank you, Penny. But I know my best years are behind me. That's why you're my apprentice and Winter before you. I want to make sure that my legacy lives on past me." he said, letting go of her head. "Now then, Professor Ozpin and I have some more serious matters to discuss. I know you've been wanting to explore Beacon Academy, so I think new would be a good time as any. Remember to stay within the school limits and report back to the Avalon at 1600 hours. Dismissed." Ironwood said, Penny giving another salute and running for the door, coat tails swaying behind her as she ran.

Penny entered the elevator, pressing the first floor button and waiting, tapping her foot to the light saxophone music that played as the elevator went down, coming to a stop at the first floor. She looked around ecstatically as she walked through the halls, seeing the various classes in progress and students making their way to their lockers. As she made her way down the halls, she heard a cry of "INCOMING!" and seeing a blur of red before feeling something slam into her and sending her onto the floor.

"Ack! S-sorry! I'm late for my next class and… wait, I haven't seen you around here, have I?" Ruby asked as she got off of Penny who pushed herself up off the ground, landing on her feet.

"Salutations! I'm Penny Polendina of Mantle Academy! And you are?" she asked with a friendly smile.

"Uh… I'm Ruby Rose. You okay?" Ruby asked, Penny nodding.

"Just fine. So, you're a student at Beacon too, huh? Are you Professor Ozpin's apprentice?" Penny asked, Ruby blinking and staring at Penny.

"...No? Where did you get that idea?" Ruby asked.

"Well, you look to be about my age so I figured you we under apprenticeship like I am." Penny replied, retaining her friendly smile.

"Oh, I see. Well, I actually jumped ahead a few years after outrunning a pack of Beowolves." Ruby said with a proud smile.

"Wow… you ran at speeds faster than 55 miles per hour?" Penny asked, Ruby blinking a bit.

"Y-yeah… I did… what?" Ruby asked, tilting her head.

"That's the average recorded running speed of Beowolf, according to _The History of Grimm: A Companion Index_ by Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck." Penny explained, holding up her left index finger.

"Oh right, Oobleck wrote books on Grimm. I tend to forget that since he's kind of… loony." Ruby said, Penny's eyes lighting up.

"Oh my gosh! Dr. Oobleck is here! I've always wanted to me him! Ruby, can we please go meet him? Pleeeeease?" Penny said, hands clasped together.

"Uh… well, I actually have to go to Advanced Cooking… you know what? It's roast week... a nightmare on Remnant unbeknownst to man." Ruby said, Penny looking at in her confusion. "So I can take you to meet Oobleck." Ruby said, Penny immediately wrapping her arms around Ruby tightly.

"Thank you so much, Ruby! This is gonna be the best day ever!" Penny exclaimed, Ruby gasping for arm. "You're… crushing… my ribs…" she gasped out, trying to escape the Nora-esque hug. Penny let her go, the Beacon student dropping to the floor.

"Oh! Sorry, Ruby… Mr. Ironwood always said I was stronger than I looked." Penny said apologetically and offering a hand to help her back up.

"It's -ow- it's fine." Ruby said as she got up. "C'mon, let's get going before Oobleck leaves his office." Ruby said, running off toward the Grimm Studies classroom with Penny following after her. As they ran, Penny gradually picked up speed, soon catching up with Ruby as they stopped in front of the door, Ruby looking inside to see Professor Oobleck putting away his teacher's notes for the day. "Alright, he's still here. Let's go!" Ruby said, opening the door.

"Ah, Ruby! Come to help me feed the Boarbatusk so it doesn't try to bite down the bars and break out of its cage, wreaking havoc on the school and injuring HUNDREDS!?" the green-haired professor asked, Ruby quickly shaking her head.

"No! No no… just here since Penny wanted to meet you. Penny, this Professor Oobleck." Ruby said, Penny excitedly walking up to Oobleck.

"Aaaaaaahhhh, it is such an honor to meet you, Dr. Oobleck! I've read all your books on the study of Grimm! Is what you said on the lifespan of the Scorpius true?" the orange-haired girl asked, Oobleck smiling and pushing up his glasses.

"Indeed it is, young lady. Why, I've seen a Scorpius half-petrified during one of its long periods of hibernation. And while the creature broke free during the group's efforts to study it, I was able to successfully kill the beast and claim its golden stinger for myself." the eccentric professor said, turning his head to the wall where the stinger lay mounted. "Now, would you care to join me in feeding a live Boarbatusk?" he offered, Penny's eyes lighting up once more.

"Absolutely! That sounds amazing!" she said with a massive smile on her face.

"Excellent! Ruby, there should be a barrel nearby full of salted meats! Bring the barrel over!" Oobleck commanded, Ruby looking around and finding the barrel, carefully tipping it over and rolling it along toward Penny and Oobleck as the professor uncovered a nearby cage with a quadrupedal, four-eyed Grimm with large curving bone tusks.

"Oh wow… it's so big…" Penny said as the Boarbatusk let out a porcine grunt, Oobleck prying open the barrel with a crowbar and grabbing a large chunk of meat.

"Here you are, Penny. Place it carefully as the Boarbatusk is known to be particularly vicious, especially in captivity such as this one. It may try to bite your hand off." Oobleck said as Penny tossed one of the salted meats into the cage, the Boarbatusk tearing into it without any hesitation.

"Oh wow… I want one! I want one!" Penny said enthusiastically, grabbing another piece of meat and throwing it in, the Boarbatusk snarling and ripping at it.

"Well, you can certainly have him as long as you have a sturdy cage and enough raw meat to sate its boiling rage. Despite their animalistic appearance, the Grimm are not animals. Animals are driven by survival. Animals eat so they can continue to live. They mate so their species can continue. They kill all they see as a threat, but they can be placated and made into our companions. But Grimm do not need to mate, they cannot be placated or reasoned with. They are not creatures of survival, they are creatures who are driven by bloodshed and destruction. Soulless, violent and near-unstoppable." Oobleck said with a dark tone to his voice, Penny dropping the piece of meat in her hand.

"Well, when you put it like that…" the orange-haired girl said, staring at the caged Boarbatusk as it slammed against the bars, trying to reach the floor meat. Ruby looked at Professor Oobleck in surprise.

"Wow…" she uttered. She was about to express her amazement at Oobleck's knowledge when she heard a familiar shout from the hall.

"ROSE! YOU WILL ROAST THIS PORK OR I WILL ROAST YOU, YOU LITTLE RED MAGGOT!" Ruby felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as a feeling of sheer terror she has felt not even from a Grimm approach her.

"Penny! We gotta go! Crazy cooking lady!" Ruby said, flailing her arms and shouting, before running behind Penny and pushing her forward so the both of them stumbled further into the room. Ruby grabbed a window frame, opening it and pushing out the screen. "OKnicetoseetoyouOobleckgottagoseeya!" Ruby said quickly, leaping out the window.

"Ah, good day to you, Ruby! Remember, there will be a test coming on the roaming habits of the Boarbatusk!" Oobleck shoutd as Ruby hit the grass, followed by Penny jumping down. The two landed on the grass, Ruby ducking down away from the window and into a nearby rose bush.

"Ow! Thorns! Anh! Penny, Is there, ow, is there a woman with white hair and horns in the room?" she asked quietly, Penny looking into the window and nodding.

"Yeah! She's talking with Dr. Oobleck right now. She seems really nice. Are you sure she's the angry one?" Penny asked, Ruby struggling to escape the thorns and break into a run before Cassandra spotted her. Penny followed after her, the two running from the main school and eventually stopping at the courtyard.

"Hah… hah… that was close…" Ruby said, taking a few breaths.

"That was so awesome! Ruby, you're the best friend I've ever had!" Penny said gleefully, giving Ruby yet another tight hug.

"Agh! Can't breathe again!" Ruby gasped out, struggling to escape. Penny soon let go, chuckling nervously.

"Sorry, I forget my own strength sometimes. Mr. Ironwood's been working hard on teaching to hold things more gently." Penny explained as Ruby pulled thorns from her shirt sleeves.

"It's okay… so, anywhere you want to go?" Ruby asked, wincing as she grabbed another thorn. Penny looked out to the mid-noon sun with a sigh.

"Well, I'd like to go out and see the rest of Vale, but Mr. Ironwood said that I'm to remain on Beacon grounds…" Penny said, looking down at the grass.

"Hrm.. maybe we can find a way to sneak you out before Ironwood knows you left. I mean, all we'd need to do is get you an I.D. card, right?" Ruby said, Penny's eyes lighting up as she looked to her newfound friend.

"You'd do that? Thank you so much, Ruby! I'm so happy I could I just hug you!" Penny said, stretching out, Ruby backing away quickly.

"No! No! No more hugs! Let's just… let's just shake hands, okay?" the Beacon student suggested, holding out a hand. Penny nodded in agreement and took Ruby's hand, Ruby letting a yelp of pain as they shook hands.

"Ow! ...Friendship is a thankless job..."


	28. Red Lantern Pier, Part 2

Ruby and Penny walked around the school grounds, Penny moving her head back and forth at every new locale. "So, who are we looking for again?" Ruby asked as Penny looked into the library through the window.

'Lieutenant Schnee. She was Mr. Ironwood's old apprentice and his second-in-command. Mr. Ironwood won't give me my student I.D. but she usually has a copy in case I lose it." Penny explained, Ruby nodding before noticing something.

"Wait… you said Schnee, right? As in... Schnee Dust Schnee?" Ruby asked, the Mantle student nodding and walking off.

"Mhm! Doesn't she have a sister that comes this school?" Penny inquired as she continued to look for the older Schnee.

"Yeah! She's my friend! ...I mean, well… she's friends with Blake who's also friends with me so I guess that makes us friends by proxy?" Ruby said, lingering on that thought for a while as they walked, Penny quickly letting out a squeal of delight and pointing.

"There she is! Over by the moat!" she exclaimed, running closer to the main academy building.

"...We have a moat?" Ruby asked before chasing after Penny, the two coming up on Winter talking with her younger sister, the two looking into the moat water.

"-And I hope you're making friends while you're here." Winter said, Weiss giving a nervous nod.

"O-of course! There's Velvet! A-and Blake.. and… uh…" Weiss said, drawing a blank until she heard a nearby shout of "Hey! We do have a moat!" from behind her. She turned to see Ruby and a girl in a green shirt and black overalls running up to them. "Ah! Ruby! How are you doing today?" Weiss said with an inviting smile.

"It's… well, it's been quite a day. So, this is the sister you were telling Blake about?" Ruby said, Weiss nodding and turning to Winter.

"Winter, this is Ruby Rose. Ruby, this is my sister Winter." the younger Schnee said, introducing the two to each other.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Ruby Rose. My sister has told me quite a bit about you." Winter said, Ruby's eyes lighting up a bit.

"Wow, really? What did she say?" Ruby asked, Winter putting a hand to her chin.

"Hrm… I believe she mentioned that you have the attention span of a mouse and when excited, produce a squeak that reaches migraine-inducing levels." the elder Schnee said, Ruby's excited gaze turning into a glare directed at Weiss, who turned to her sister.

"Winter! Not in front of her!" she cried, Winter chuckling and turning her attention to Penny.

"Ah, Penny. I see you've made a friend here at Beacon. Tell me, how has your trip around the school been?" the Lieutenant asked.

"It's been the best! I got to feed a Boarbatusk and run from a crazy cooking teacher!" the orange-haired girl exclaimed, Winter giving a blank stare in response.

"...I see." she said, Weiss facepalming and muttering "The school isn't that weird..." under her breath.

"Lieutenant Schnee, do you still have my spare I.D. card?" Penny asked, Winter nodding and opening a small card holder on her belt. She pulled out a laminated card with Penny's profile on it.

"What happened to your card? ...General Ironwood did give it to you, right?" Winter asked, looking Penny straight in the eyes.

"Yes, Lieutenant. But I lost it in the halls and I can't find it." Penny said, digging her foot into the walkway slightly.

"Hrm… something wrong with your foot?" Winter asked, Penny seizing up slightly.

"There's a rose thorn in my boot." she said, Winter holding her focus.

"...A rose thorn?" Winter asked, Penny nodding.

"We fell into a bush running from the cooking teacher." the apprentice soldier explained, Winter turning to Ruby and Weiss.

"She keeps mentioning this cooking teacher. Are they really that intimidating?" Winter asked, Ruby nodding rapidly.

"I mean, Ms. Troy's not all that bad when you get to know her, but she takes cooking seriously. Very seriously." Ruby said, Weiss nodding in agreement.

"I've passed by the Advanced Cooking class a few times and I've seen her hurl potatoes at desks if students failed to properly chop their vegetables." Weiss added, Winter putting a hand to her chin in thought.

"Hrm… I see... alright then, Penny. Remember to be back at 1600 hours." she said, handing the card to Penny, the orange-haired girl giving a salute and walking off towards the gates.

"Penny! Wait up! The gate won't open without two people!" Ruby said as she gave chase, leaving the Schnee sisters behind.

"You certainly know some interesting people at this school, Weiss." Winter said, Weiss burying her face in her hands.

Ruby soon caught up with Penny at the gate. "Alright, let's see if this works!" Penny said, swiping the card.

"Student ID Accepted. Penny Polendina, Mantle Academy. All accompanying students please swipe your cards." The machine said, Ruby quickly swiping her card. "Student ID Accepted. Ruby Rose, Year 1. Have a nice day, -Ruby- and -Penny-." the card reader droned out, the gate opening in front of them. Penny darted out with Ruby having to give chase again. The Vale newcomer looked around in awe at everything around her, running up to the window of a nearby Dust store.

"Oh wow! I've never seen Dust in some of these colors! This is so cool!" she said, Ruby catching up to her and smiling. She remembered when she first arrived in Vale and the wonder that came with each store visited. It felt great to share that same joy with a new friend. "Ahhh! This is so cool! Come on, Ruby! We got four hours to see all of Vale!" Penny exclaimed, running off again.

"Penny! Slow down!" Ruby called back, slowly becoming more and more like Yang as she chased after her orange-haired friend.

The two traveled along, Ruby coming to a stop when she spotted a familiar building. "Oh sweet! They're open today!" she said, grabbing Penny's hand and pointing at the building which was adorned with large neon sign that read "Rolling Thunder Skating Rink" The sign was finished with a neon caricature of a skater leaping over the name of the building.

"...Skating rink?" Penny said with a finger on her chin, tilting her head.

"You've never rollerskated before?" Ruby asked, the Mantle student shaking her head. "You have to try it, it's so much fun! When me and my sister Yang came to Vale, I found this place and nearly spent my whole stipend just visiting here! Yang had to carry me on her shoulders out of here at one point!" Ruby said, taking Penny's hand. "C'mon, let's go!" she said, dragging Penny into the skating rink, opening the door to a dark room awash in vibrant purple lights with speakers blasting funk music throughout the room.

"Whoa…" Penny said awestruck, Ruby laughing.

"You haven't seen anything yet!" Ruby said loudly to be heard over the music as she set down Lien to pay for two pairs of roller skates, tossing a pair to Penny and heading for the rink.

They passed by the arcade corner, where kids and teens were playing all sorts of racing and shooting games or enjoying pizza. They soon stopped by the entrance, switching out to their shoes for the skates, Penny wobbling with each step in the wheeled shoes. "Wh-whoa! This is gonna need some getting used to…" she said, putting her hand on a nearby wall.

"You'll be fine as long as you wear your protective gear." Ruby responded, tossing her a green helmet with several pads inside, Penny reaching for it and falling over with a yelp. "Skating's an experience that will give you plenty of bruises, Penny. You'll get used to it." Ruby said as she put on her helmet. Within minutes, the two were ready and out on the rink.

Ruby was already in a zone out of the gate, her knees bent and her shoulders forward, putting pressure on the heel wheels and picking up speed. She went faster and faster around the rink, weaving around the other skaters with ease. She looked to see Penny struggling to keep her balance on her own skates. Ruby quickly skated to her, taking her arm.. "Hold on tight!" she said, Penny gripping her hand tightly. "Ow! OW! Too tight, too tight! Slightly less tight!" Ruby said, teeth gritted as Penny let up on her hand. The two did another lap around the rink, Ruby waiting until Penny had matched her speed, seeing Penny move closer with each pass.

"Hey! I think I'm getting the hang of this!" Penny said, feeling the rush of air as they sped along the track

"Okay, ready? Now turn!" Ruby said, letting the rookie skater go with a slight push as they came up on a curve. However, Penny flew straight into the wall, unaccustomed to the finer art of turning. "Oh crap! Penny!" Ruby exclaimed, looping back around and stopping at the wall. She knelt down to help her up. "Penny, I'm so sorry! I let you go too quickly! Are you alright?" Ruby asked, Penny letting out a cheer.

"That was so cool! Let's do it again!" Penny said, Ruby blinking and slowly shaking her head.

"No…. let's not…" Ruby said, skating towards the exit, Penny following after, zig-zagging awkwardly as they made their way to a seat at the arcade.

"Alright, so rollerskating didn't go too great, but you looked like you were having fun." Ruby said, sitting down and untying her skates.

"Well, I normally walk with my legs and rollerskating's like… not walking with your legs. I'd say walking with my hands, but I can walk great with my hands. Wanna see?" Penny asked, dropping down onto the floor and pushing her legs up into the air, grunting a bit as she lifted a hand and placed it slightly ahead of herself. After a few slow movements, the Mantle student began to walk around the table, Ruby looking on in confusion.

"Uh… good job? ...Can you go back to sitting down?" Ruby asked, Penny flipping back into a standing position and sitting down. "Don't have a lot left after the rental… we may need to cut the trip short." Ruby said, counting the remaining contents of her pouch. Penny frowned, Ruby putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, cheer up. You had a good time, right? Besides, we'll need to get back before Ironwood notices you're gone." Ruby said, the orange-haired girl looking up with a small smile.

"Yeah… it was nice while it lasted, I just wish it went a little longer." Penny said, getting up to leave.

The two made it outside the skating rink, seeing a man in a brown suit, pink tie and white pants with short brown hair handing out red tickets to passerby down the street. Ruby noticed that none of the takers had given up any Lien to get their tickets. "Huh? Someone's giving away free tickets. Wanna take a look?" Ruby asked, Penny nodding and walking down the street, Ruby following after her as they approached the brown suited man. "Excuse me, mister. What are those tickets for?" Penny asked, the man looking at them and nodding.

"John Gideon's the name and I'm here to offer a free week trip to the Red Lantern Pier!" the man said with a quick and smooth cadence, pulling two of the red tickets out of his pocket. Ruby grabbed a ticket, looking at it as John continued. "We're touring Remnant and today's the last day of our week in the Kingdom of Vale so we're offering free tickets in case you would want to come again next year. Grab one before it's too late!" John said, Penny taking her ticket.

"Wow! ...But, won't we need money for rides and games?" Penny asked, John chuckling.

"Honestly the only time you'll have to pay for is if you want the cotton candy." he said, the two looking over their tickets and shrugging.

"Well, if it keeps our day going, I can spend a bit on cotton candy… Ruby said with a smile, turning to John, "So, which way to the Red Lantern Pier, Mr. Gideon?" she asked, John looking around for a bit before snapping his fingers.

"Well… It's a pier. You can't miss it." he said, pointing northward. The two rookie huntresses ran off, waving to John as they made their way north. Once he handed out his tickets, John headed into an alley, pulling a cell phone out of his pocket and dialing.

"Hey boss? Yeah, all tickets are gone. But here's the real good news, we've got a special guest. No, it's even better than that. She's bringing a friend. Mhm. I'll be over in a few minutes." John said, shutting off his phone.

Ruby and Penny soon came upon the Red Lantern Pier, the first thing in their sights was the large red and black striped circus tent with a smiling orange jack-o-lantern stitched onto the opening flap. As they came closer, they caught sight of the rollercoaster; a large, multi-looping ride with the cars modeled after the serpentine Ouroboros Grimm. "Oh wow… this is so cool!" Penny said, running toward the gate with ticket in hand, Ruby following her as the bright colored lights became brighter and the cacophony of cheering, screams and arcade machines beeping grew louder with each step. The rookie huntresses flashed their tickets, the gatekeeper taking their tickets and tearing them in half, giving the other half to Ruby and Penny.

"Be sure to hold onto those stubs. There's a special event in the tent coming up and you'll need your stub to get in." he said mostly to air as Ruby and Penny had already run through the open gate into the fairgrounds.

"Okay… what should we do first?" Ruby asked, turning to see Penny already in line for the "Screamin' Serpent" ride, Ruby laughing and running to get in line behind her. The line took no time to empty and the two managed to get the final car, climbing in and grabbing the bar to secure themselves down, Penny's hands tightening on the bar slightly. "Nervous?" Ruby asked, Penny nodding her head with a slight whimper, Ruby smiling as she handed her cape to one of the workers so it wouldn't catch on the track. She patted Penny on the shoulder reassuringly. "It'll be fine. It's probably gonna go really slow to start and then pick up speeeeeEEEAAAAHHHHHH!""" Ruby said as the rollercoaster sprang to life, speeding off immediately and going through the first big loop. Penny screamed with delight as the ride completed its first lap, Ruby finally adjusting the speed of the ride slightly with each pass. The wind blew their hair behind them, Ruby mentally thankful that Yang wasn't on this ride.

The ride soon came to a halt, Ruby stumbling out dizzily. "Whoa… why is the ground moving?" Ruby said, grabbing a nearby pole to balance herself.

"It's because the planet is in a constant rotation, moving at 1040 miles an hour." Penny explained, holding up her left index finger.

"That's not what I meant…" Ruby said, shaking her head and coming back to focus. "Okay, the world has stopped spinning and- it's a figure of speech, Penny." Ruby said as Penny lifted her finger, the orange-haired girl quickly dropping it. "Now we can maybe get some cotton candy and play some games." Ruby said, heading to the a nearby kiosk where the cotton machine was set up, Ruby putting down 10 Lien. "Two cotton candies, please." Ruby said, the worker nodding and spinning two sticks of cotton candy. He handed them to Ruby, who gave one to Penny. They continued their journey, stopping at the midway and looking over some of the games and the prizes they offered. Penny gasped and walked up to a booth where little wooden puppets on strings were being sold.

"Ahhhhh! I want one! I want one!" Penny said, green eyes bright with joy. Ruby looked at the game, seeing a set of ten small, multi-colored plastic shrurikens and a set of fast-moving targets modeled after various Grimm.

"1 for the Boarbatusks, 5 for the Ursi and 10 for the Beowolves. Don't hit the corgis, they're duds and subtract five points. 50 points for a puppet and 100 points gets you the big whale plushie." the gamekeeper said, pointing behind him to the giant, blue adorable plush whale on the display around the puppets.

"Stand back Ms. Polendina… I got this." Ruby grabbed the shurikens, her first toss going between two Beowolves. She tried a few more shots, missing a few but hitting others that stayed still.

"Gotta get the Grimm to go down." said the gamekeeper. By the end, she had about 3 Beowolves, 2 Ursi and 2 Corgis.

"Ah, man… I double-corgi'd." Ruby said, Penny taking a set of shurikens.

"I would like a try, please." she said politely, throwing a perfect shot on a Beowolf, knocking it down. She carefully waited until she launched another shuriken, knocking over another Beowolf. The eight successive equally knocked down Beowolves, getting a perfect 100. Ruby stared wide-eyed and slack-jawed and as Penny collected her plush whale.

"H-how did you…?" the baffled redhead asked, Penny simply hugging the big whale.

"I threw the stars and hit the Beowolves." she said simply, the two walking off with Ruby carrying both cotton candies. After trying out a few more rides, Ruby spotted a woman with long, curled brown hair with streaks of bright pink mixed in and brown eyes walking around and gathering ticket stubs from visitors, pointing them to the tent. She was wearing a pink jacket, brown pants and white high-heeled boots that added about two inches in height to her short frame. In her right hand was a pink parasol she used to direct visitors. The woman walked over to to them, holding a hand out to collect their stubs with a cat-like grin spread across her face. Penny handed over her ticket stub, Ruby giving up hers with a bit of hesitance, feeling a wave of unease wash over her in the presence of the woman in the pink jacket. The woman pointed her parasol to the tent, nudging her head towards it.

"R-right. Thanks." Ruby said, taking Penny's hand and guiding her towards the black-and-red striped tent. The woman headed off to gather the rest of the stubs as the two rookie huntresses stepped through the curtain. Inside was a near-full house packed with several teenagers and young adults, Ruby barely able to find seats for her and Penny at the back as the tent continued to fill. A murmur had broken out among the crowd, their eyes pointed to the wooden stage in front of them with a single spotlight shining on the center, a microphone on its stand being the only thing they could see. Ruby sat down, the echo of footsteps growing louder as the woman with the pink parasol headed down the bleacher steps, reaching the floor and climbing up onto the stage. The woman grabbed the microphone and cleared her throat, bringing the crowd to silent attention. She took a bow as soon all eyes were on her, stepping aside as the curtain pulled open, Ruby's eyes going wide with shock as soon as she saw the man the crowd had been waiting to see.

The man stood tall and looked like a millionaire in his white suit, red tie, black pants and white shoes. His bright orange hair was short with only a few bangs covering his right eye, the left revealing a dark green iris. In his hands, covered by black fingerless gloves, was a cane with a silver wolf's head topping it, the wolf's head open and snarling. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! We hope you enjoyed your stay at Red Lantern Pier, but how about we get to the main attraction?" The man said with a pleasant smile, Ruby backing away slightly from her seat. Penny noticed her friend moving in the corner of her eye and turned her head slightly.

"Ruby? What's wrong? You look pale… well, paler than usual…" Penny said, Ruby going stiff with fear.

"It… it's him… he's back…" Ruby said shakily, Penny tilted her head.

"Who's back? Who is that guy, Ruby?" The Mantle student inquired, Ruby gulping nervously as she uttered the name of the man who had bested her and her sister the bay before she made it to Beacon. The criminal who she was lucky to have even survived against if it weren't for Professor Goodwitch.

"Roman Torchwick…"


	29. Red Lantern Pier, Part 3

The crowd became a storm of talk among themselves at the sight of one of Vale's most wanted criminals standing before them, Ruby paralyzed in shock. The woman with the pink umbrella handed Roman a black bowler hat, which he placed on his head with a touch of flourish, spinning the hat in his hand. "Thank you, Chloe. Let's give her a round of applause, ladies and gentlemen!" Torchwick said to a confused crowd as the woman took a bow, leaving through the curtain behind them. "Now then, I can safely assume that introductions are out of the question since you all know who I am. What I'm here for is you. You're all here because I know where you've been. You all were told that you could be heroes and legends, that you could shoot for the stars and go on great adventures. You joined Beacon, you joined Haven, you joined Mantle, you joined Shade. You worked as hard as you could to become a Hunter so you could save the world from the monsters that rule over it. But it didn't work out, did it? Maybe the stress of studying finally got to you, maybe you were a rule breaker, or maybe the school's just didn't want you for whatever reason. And now you're all without homes or money. You're willing to eat your own rags just to make it to another day. Believe me, I've been down that road once and I don't wanna see any more poor souls on that road myself. For your consideration, Chloe Quinn." Roman continued, the short woman with brown hair stepping out from the curtain with a rope in her hands.

"When I met Chloe, she was sitting alone in the middle of heavy rainfall. She was sickly pale, didn't have a pair of shoes and could barely walk due to exhaustion. But I took her in and now she's been well-fed, healthy and her talents are being put to good use. The royal family doesn't give us impoverished ones a chance, they won't even let us into their academies unless we sell out our desperate and sick comrades. Because I look around this tent and all I see around me is wasted potential. The finest crop of Hunters and all around people who were screwed out of sheer bad circumstance, who all found themselves cast aside, without homes or families. Join me and I can guarantee you many things; Money, power, respect, fear, you name it. But most important of all is family. Join with us and you will become a part of our family." Roman said, a wave of positive murmuring building in the audience.

"Now, I know what some of you are thinking. 'But Roman, isn't there no honor among thieves? How do we know you won't just stab us in the back?' And yes, trust is an issue with criminals, so I will dispel that little problem with a simple offer: Who wants money?" Torchwick asked, Chloe pulling on the rope and pulling back the curtains though, it was still too dark to actually see anything behind him. "You need money? We provide. You need power? We provide. You want a revolution…? **We. Provide.** " He stated, clasping his hands behind his back. "Want to know the best part about all this? No taxes, no extra cuts, everyone gets a piece of the pie equal to the amount of effort they put in. This can be yours and more, all I ask is for your help. No one dies, we all go home happy and rich." Torchwick said, the crowd erupting into cheers.

"Society called us freaks, criminals, conmen, losers, and much more… But this is the one place you can find solace, this is who we are! And here? At least we can look out for each other instead of being screwed by a system we aren't in control of. We're a majority that gets ignored… and if the world thinks we're freaks? Well… All I have to say is Welcome… to the Red Lantern Family!'"

Torchwick said, spinning his cane on his finger and slamming it onto the floor of the stage, creating a loud baritone echo that filled the room, slowly red lanterns began to light behind him, slowly revealing bars upon bars of gold, next to crates with the Schnee company logo on them and a massive stockpile of weapons. "They have -no- idea what they're dealing with…It's what they get for messing with us for all these years." Roman said with a smile, turning back to the crowd. "And if any of you are still thinking of leaving, just step through the curtain and we'll go our separate ways. No hard feelings, just don't call the cops." The white-suited thief said as a handful of people got up from their seats, heading for the stairs.

"Penny! Now's our chance! Let's get going before he spots us!" Ruby said, grabbing Penny's hand and pulling her towards the stairs. She grabbed around for her phone, flipping it open and dialing to call Yang. Chloe looked up and spotted the departing Ruby and Penny, tugging at Roman's sleeve to get his attention and pointing them out.

"Oh! I almost forgot about our special guests! Bring them on down, would ya?" Torchwick asked, the crowd immediately enveloping the two.

"Hey! Let me go!" Ruby shouted, struggling against the many grabbing hands, hearing the sounds of tearing fabric. She looked to see the sleeves of her shirt being ripped apart before she was shoved into the waiting arms of the crowd, who kicked and punched at her as they carried her and Penny further down the stage. She eventually felt her chest hit the stage wall and one quite rude crowd member grabbed her by the hair, smashing her face into the smooth floor with a dull thud and a groan of pain.

"That was a bit unnecessary." Torchwick chided at the motion with a small chuckle.

"Unh… this whole… anh… carnival was a trap?" Ruby asked, Torchwick letting out a hearty laugh.

"Of course it wasn't a trap, that would be too… convoluted for my tastes… But how convenient that both of you still managed to walk so blindly into it like two moths to a candle!" Roman said with a smirk, Chloe responding with a cheerful smile and a playful rap onto Ruby's head with her parasol.

"Ow!" Ruby moaned, the white-clad criminal putting a hand on his cohort's shoulder.

"Ease up for now, Chloe. Now then, onto business. See Red, I was a bit miffed that some little brat beat up my henchmen and made me cut off my job. But as you can see… It wasn't so bad..." He said with a smile, turning his head to the massive spoils surrounding them. "So I'm sure you're thinking that I want to probably gut you right here and make an example of you for the rest of my new family. And to be fair when I first saw you in here… I considered that as one of my options." Roman said, Ruby turning pale and balling her fists tightly. "But since you've brought your little friend from Atlas, I can almost say 'I'm glad you made it' without vomiting. Almost." Roman said, Ruby's eyes widening.

"H-how do you know about Penny?" She asked, Penny soon being thrown onto the stage as if on cue, her clothes equally tattered from the manhandling of the crowd.

"I have benefactors with a… vested interest in… Penny, was it?" Roman asked, Penny nodding nervously.

"What do they want with me?" Penny inquired, Roman shrugging his shoulders.

"All I know is that they gave me the job of tracking you down and capturing you. They offered me quite a bit of money so saying no was pretty much not going to happen. Lady luck was on my side when I saw the Atlesian airfleet launch their stupid confetti cannons all over Vale. We figured it'd be as simple as doing our last Pier date and then putting the Family to work on catching you, but Red did the work for us. Good work, kiddo! You get three claps." Torchwick said, clapping three times as Ruby stood up slowly, nostrils flared. "Heh! Trying to play big hero? Okay, maybe three claps was a bit cheap. A kidnapping like this deserves a real reward. Chloe, if you will…" he said, turning to his pink-jacketed compatriot. Chloe pulled back the hilt of her umbrella, revealing a blade that she quickly stabbed into a bag that was resting atop a box of Schnee Dust, puncturing it and causing a small set of gold coins to spill out. She cut into the bag further, tearing open a hole in the bag and sending Lien cascading out in front of them, Roman taking off his bowler and putting it under the fall of coins. The coins filled up the brim as the white-suited criminal presented the hatful of coins to Ruby. "Everything in the bag is yours. It's only a fraction of what they offered me, but it's more money you'll see than working for Beacon." He said with a coy smile, Ruby looking at the Lien for only a second before smacking it away, the coins scattering on the floor.

"I'm not selling out my friend. I don't need any money, especially anything touched by a jackass like -YOU-." Ruby shouted, receiving a hard shot to the face from the wolf's head of Torchwick's cane, blood spitting out of her mouth and onto the stage.

"Hold your tongue, you stupid bitch or you won't have one for long…" Roman said with a snarl, turning over to Penny, who had held her fists up in front of her. Roman sighed and bent down to look her straight in the eyes "Okay, Red doing it was cute. Now this angry kid crap is getting on my nerves. Just lay down and-" Torchwick threatened as Penny quickly jabbed her fingers into his eyes, Roman recoiling in pain as Penny quickly jumped off the stage, grabbing Ruby and running.

"Come on, Ruby! Run!" She exclaimed, the two making a break for it as Torchwick stood up, red-faced with one eye open.

"GET THEM! KILL THEM!" He shouted, Chloe making throat-slashing motion with her thumb as the crowd chased after the rookie huntresses.

The two made a stop by the games corner, Ruby scrambling to grab her phone and dropping it at first before picking it up and dialing. "Come on, Yang… pick up the phone. Pick up!" Ruby said shakily as the phone rang, finally getting a signal.

"Ruby, where the heck are you?! The whole school's under lockdown and I've been calling you all day! You've had me worried half to death and now you call?! This had better be-" Yang shouted into Ruby's ear, Ruby quickly shouting. "TORCHWICK!" In response. "Torchwick?" The older sister asked in confusion.

"The guy who was robbing the Dust shop the day before we went to Beacon! He's back and he's got a mob chasing after me!" Ruby said between rapid breaths.

"WHAT?! Ruby, where are you?!" Yang asked, her anger and confusion replaced with concern.

"Red Lantern Pier! It's on the northern end of Vale near the coastline! You gotta- AHHHH!" Ruby screamed and dodged as Chloe's sword nearly plunged into her, catching on the booth wall behind Ruby.

"Ruby! What's going on?! Ru-" Yang's voice called as Chloe brought the toe of her boot down onto the abandoned phone, snapping it.

"No! Nononononono!" Ruby said as she went to get the phone, stopping as she saw the wide grin that spread across the short woman's face, her bloodshot eyes leering wide open at Ruby as she tried to claw at her throat, but Ruby was fast enough to shove her boot straight into her chest and send her back, though she just landed on her feet and acted like nothing happened. Ruby got up and ran, Chloe chasing after her as she looked for Penny. "Penny! Where did you go?!" Ruby shouted before she was grabbed on the arm and pulled up onto the cloth roof of the booth in front of her.

"Ruby! You okay?" Penny asked, Ruby clutching her chest slightly as she tried to recover from the shock of the pink-jacketed psycho that was chasing her.

"W-we have to keep going! We've lost the crowd but I don't think the umbrella girl's gonna leave us alone! She wants our heads!" Ruby exclaimed, Penny nodding and standing up, making a running start to jump onto the next roof. The Beacon student chased after, jumping to the next roof as Chloe climbed up, chasing after them. "Hang on, Penny. I'll shake her off!" Ruby shouted, grabbing Penny's arm and building up her Semblance until she was running at full speed, leaping from roof to roof, the world around them going slightly blurry, Penny flapping in the wind behind her, gripping Ruby's arm tight. Ruby ignored the pain as she jumped off the last roof, running towards the Screamin' Serpent with Penny, the two stopping to catch their breath. "Okay… okay… I think we lost her… now we gotta get out of her and-" Ruby said before being grabbed by the scruff of her cape and thrown into one of the cars.

"Ruby!" Penny cried before receiving the heel of Chloe's boot to her head, knocking her off the platform. Chloe walked slowly over the rollercoaster's lever, pulling it back and breaking the lever so it was forced to stay on. She quickly jumped onto the last car before the ride took off, tossing the discarded lever at Ruby, the hunk of metal landing at her feet on the floor of the car.

Ruby grabbed the lever, climbing onto the car's seat as Chloe leapt closer and closer, leaping into the air and letting the carts pass underneath before stabbing into one of the seats beside her, Ruby blocking the strike by hitting it to the side. Though, Chloe just smirked, pulling the blade back and beginning to enter of a flurry of stabs so fast that it was just blurs to her vision, turning the seat under her to shreds Ruby blocked and dodged each of the flurrying stabs, scrambling away and jumping into the next car, grabbing onto the rail as they came upon and oncoming series of loops. Chloe stabbed onto the rail, the two holding for dear life as the loops passed, Ruby letting out a scream. Chloe jumped up the top of the coaster, Ruby blocking the oncoming slice with the broken lever. Ruby slowly pushed herself up, forcing Chloe back as she got to a standing position, the two clashing weapons. The fight was much more even with both fighters either blocking or dodging the others strikes. Ruby went in for a shot only to be sidestepped, Chloe kicking her in the stomach and quickly quickly grabbing Ruby and tossing her into the leather seat.

The pink jacketed psycho grabbed the lever and pressed it against Ruby's throat, her pupils growing smaller as her eyes became wider and more bloodshot, Ruby struggling to force her off. Chloe took her hands off the lever, using her foot to hold it. The heel of her boot pressed into Ruby's sternum, the arch held the lever at her throat and the toe forced the Beacon student's chin up, making it impossible for Ruby to breathe. Chloe's smile widened as she watched Ruby's face begin to change color, faint gasps bursting out as Ruby's arms began to go limp. Ruby felt her eyes grow heavier and heavier until the rollercoaster came to a sudden halt, launching Chloe off the car and onto the track, holding onto it with one hand. Ruby's vision came slowly into focus as precious oxygen began to return to her lungs. "Anh… I'm… I'm alive…" Ruby said between slow breaths.

She climbed out of the car, stepping out and immediately taking a fall. The lack of oxygen to Ruby's brain had resulted her in forgetting a crucial detail: she was fifteen feet above the ground in a stopped rollercoaster. She hit the pier below hard, landing on her back with her head bouncing against the pier. She arched her back against the ground, writhing on the floor like a dying cat. Ruby scrambled onto her stomach and got back onto her feet before she dropped onto her knees, not able to balance and only hearing a ringing in her head. "Anh… my head… it hurts so- n-no…" Ruby said, seeing the figure of Chloe advancing on her once more with her sword withdrawn. With all the strength she could muster, Ruby let out a scream. "HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" She shrieked, the pink psycho twirling her sword between her fingers as she advanced on her helpless target, Ruby slowly backed away, hot tears streaming down her face as her voice became strained from screaming.

The sounds of gunfire pierced the air, Chloe coming to a halt and turning to see a small squadron of twenty Atlesian Knights armed with guns, her smile dropping instantly. "Get down on the ground with your hands in the air!" Shouted the figure leading the Knights, a man in a white military suit with short black hair and dark blue eyes. Chloe quickly jumped off the pier, Knights opening fire into the water as the man in white walked over to Ruby. Ruby sat frozen in place, tears soaking her face as the man stepped up to her, grabbing her by the lapels of her shirt and lifting her so they were face-to-face. "You! You were the one who snuck Penny out of Beacon! You put Penny in danger! If you were my student I'd have you expelled! **I'd have you arrested**!" The man snarled, Ruby unable to sum up a response beyond crying and letting out a strained whimper. "What do you have to say for yourself?! Well?!" He asked before he felt something grab his arm, singeing the sleeve of his coat. The man turned to see Yang, glowing a hot white with rage.

" **LET GO OF HER!** " She growled, rearing back and punching the man in white straight in the chest, knocking him back and releasing his grip on Ruby. The Atlesian Knights all aimed their guns upon Yang as Blake and Weiss rushed over to Ruby, Weiss removing her jacket and putting on the shaken girl.

"Stand down!" He shouted, the Knights dropping their weapons, the man in white walking toward the glowing girl. The two stared at each other, eye to eye, the rest of the crowd going silent in fear another battle starting up. "So, another insubordinate student of Ozpin.. Beacon is truly a shining example of an academy." He muttered, Yang pounding her fist into her hand, creating a small shockwave.

"I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE, BUT YOU WILL NOT LAY YOUR HANDS ON MY SISTER LIKE THAT AGAIN! YOU GOT ME?!" She yelled, pressing her chest into his upper abdomen, her breathing heavy with rage.

"You think your little light show scares me? Hit me again, see how far it takes you." He said, seething as Yang reared back her fist. However, Yang felt someone grab her wrist and was brought back to reality.

"Huh?" She said, turning to see Professor Ozpin standing before her.

"General… I will resolve this matter." Ozpin said coldly.

"Oz... your student put my… my apprentice at risk. She could've been kidnapped or killed. This is not your battle to fight and I will not-" Ironwood began, Ozpin tapping his cane.

"And these are not your students, General. This is not your Kingdom, not your academy and not your students. Return to Avalon with Penny and I will resolve this… I appreciate your efforts in controlling the crowd." Ozpin said bluntly, James tightening his fist.

"Is this the kind of behavior you allow of your students? Insubordination and violence? Don't think I'm not aware of what happened to the Bear's Den. When we talked, you questioned the way I ran Mantle. Said that I controlled them through fear and punishment. But my students are disciplined, respect my authority and are not a force to be trifled with. If this is what you consider your best, then Beacon Academy has failed." Ironwood said, the two headmasters staring each other down as Ruby slowly got to her feet, gripping the sides of Weiss' jacket as she walked over to General Ironwood.

"I-I'm sorry… It was a mistake to come here, I know. I'm sorry." she said quietly before walking off in a haze, Yang's aura fading from white to a golden yellow as her fists unclenched. The older sister ran over to Ruby, putting both hands on her shoulders gently.

"C'mon, sis. Hornet's not far from here. We'll get you back to Beacon so you can get some rest." Yang said with a motherly tone to her voice, Ruby nodding and letting out a quiet "Yeah" as they walked, Ozpin following behind the sisters.

"I understand this is a difficult time for you, Ruby. But sometime soon we will be needing you to come in for questioning." He explained, Ruby responding again with "Yeah" without even looking at her headmaster as she walked. Ruby looked down on the ground, choking back tears before being lifted under her arms and set down onto the backseat of Yang's motorcycle. Ruby felt as though she had hit bottom. She was almost killed twice, nearly lost her new friend to criminals and caused a fight between two headmasters. Very little could make this a worse night for her when she heard a voice call out from the darkness.

"Ruby!" Penny shouted as she ran closer to Hornet, Ruby letting out a sigh as she came to a stop.

"Penny… I'm so sorry… I didn't think that things could go so wrong. We shouldn't have left Beacon. If you didn't want to be friends with me anymore..." Ruby said, not looking Penny in the eye. Penny put a hand on her shoulder. The Beacon student looked up to see Penny smiling.

"I know things didn't end as well as we wanted, but today was the best day I've ever had. I… I don't have any friends in Atlas. You're the only friend I have, Ruby. And I'm glad I got to spend today with you." Penny said, Ruby's eyes watering up slightly. She wrapped her arms tightly around Penny, catching the Mantle student off-guard.

"Th-thank you!" Ruby said, Penny smiling and gingerly wrapping her arms around her best friend. The two pulled apart, holding each other's shoulders.

"We'll keep in touch, okay?" Penny said, Ruby nodding her head.

"I'll write to you when I can." She said with a smile, Yang kicking Hornet to life.

"Hold on tight, sis!" The blonde sister said, Ruby grabbing onto Yang's sides as they sped off into the night, Penny waving goodbye.


	30. Unbroken and Dire

Roman walked down the street, dusting off his white suit as the sound of gunfire and screaming echo from behind him. He turned to see the Red Lantern Pier under siege from the Atlesian army, the large tent that had been the stage for the formation of his family was now aflame, creating a light that could be seen from miles away. "Hrn… damned Atlesians." Torchwick muttered, rooting around in his pockets, pulling out a cigar and looking for his locker. As Roman searched, he saw a hand reach out from the darkness, holding a silver lighter with a jack-o-lantern engraved onto it. "Thanks, Chloe." He said, grabbing the lighter and lighting up his cigar. He took in a deep puff as they walked down the Market Quarter, Chloe spinning her parasol between her fingers and looking to her boss quizzically. "Oh, we're not abandoning them, anyone who is caught by those goons deserve to be caught, the good ones who get a place in my flock can get away safely. Besides, we have another job to do…" Roman said, taking another puff.

Their journey took them past the Market Quarter and into the destitute buildings of the Zoo Quarter, walking past the squalor and filth. Past the poor Fauni sleeping in the alleys and fighting for what little scraps of food they could find. "Hey! What do you think you're doing here, human?" Shouted a boy with short gray hair, spotted with black and matching eyes with black rings around them. The boy ran at Torchwick, Chloe kicking the child aside.

"Run along, kid. I got grown-up business here." Roman said as two more Faunus children ran to the boy's aid. The criminals kept up their walk, turning a corner past a building that was tagged with a black wolf's head with bloodstained teeth bared and ready to bite. "Heh, looks like my cane, doesn't it? I think we'll get along with these animals just fine." Torchwick said with a smirk, Chloe smiling as they traveled further through Black Fang territory.

As they continued their search, a soft clicking sound echoed through the streets, Chloe's ears perking up at the sound as it seemed to grow louder with each step they took further into the slums. Within an instant, a figure jumped out of a nearby alley, clad in an all-black suit and a mask modeled after the bat-Grimm Cama. The figure had their sword blocked by Roman's cane. Chloe looked around the area, pointing in different directions at passing shadows, Torchwick smiling. "Heh, certainly know how to greet a gentleman to your… humble abode." Roman said with a smirk as another figure burst out wielding a cup-hilted rapier, the white suited criminal moving his head away from the oncoming stab. Torchwick slid to the side, making the rapier wielding Faunus completely miss.

The one who attacked him suddenly pressed both legs against the nearby brick wall, leaping back and glancing a blow across Torchwick's shoulder, staining the jacket with his own blood. Torchwick groaned, pushing his gloved hand against the wound to stifle the bleeding as he looked over to who hit him. The woman in a Nevermore mask was clad in silver armor with golden flourishes with long blonde hair falling to one side of her shoulder, with a form fitting white skirt covering one of the legs of her greaves. "Cute." Roman commented on the fact she managed to cut him. "But now you pissed me off." He said, spinning his cane in one hand and tucking it under one arm, his other hand throwing off his bowler cap to the side, Chloe catching it and glaring at the Nevermore woman with visceral hatred in her brown eyes. "Don't worry, Chloe. I've got these two…" Torchwick said, spinning his cane gingerly as the Cama-masked man ran towards him, stopping slightly. "Well, what are you waiting for, Batman? You gonna give me a matching shoulder wound?" Roman asked, the man sheathing his blade.

"I will not fight a wounded man, even a diseased human such as yourself." He said, the sound of another blade sheathing as the Nevermore woman placed her sword back inside.

"We are not mere animals as you called us. We have our code…" she said, removing her mask, a showing a bright sky blue eye in the darkness that surrounded her.

"But Knox and I aren't the people you should worry about." She warned, Torchwick about to speak when he was quickly shoved to the ground, seeing several bullets whiz past him, Chloe quickly using her sword to block the remaining shots as the next Faunus charged out of the shadows in an Androcleo mask.

"Damn it! That stupid pink midget made me miss!" He said, opening up his trenchcoat and flipping open the twin revolvers, discarding the used chambers.

"Oh good. A bat, a bird and a kitty cat." Torchwick groused as he slowly got up to his feet, hearing the click of reloaded guns.

"Watch your tongue, filth, this cat's got claws!" The Androcleo shouted, firing off another full set of clips at the two humans. Roman rolled aside while Chloe ducked down the ground, watching the bullets pass. The man removed his mask, revealing a head of curly gray hair and sunglasses over his eyes, a black stubble on his face and a pair of white cat ears with black, jagged stripes. "Hold still, the both of you! You come around our yard and you won't give me the pleasure of looking you in the eyes as I kill you?" The white tiger Faunus said, emptying his revolvers again and working to reload, Chloe charging straight at the attacking Faunus.

"Stop hiding so you can die already!" He yelled, dodging Chloe and giving her a kick to the back as she missed her mark. Torchwick, gripping his shoulder, ran into the open with his cane gripped tightly in his hand. The tiger Faunus grinned wildly and charged. "Now we're talking!" He exclaimed and running to the invading human when he was grabbed from behind by his collar and pulled back.

"Enough! All of you inside!" Adam shouted through his King Kuja mask, the white tiger Faunus turning and looking at his comrade.

"You're growing soft on me, Adam! What a disappointment." He said, shaking his head.

"I forget you're an idiot sometimes, Jin. I told you all that Roman Torchwick was coming to arrange a deal and you all attack him on sight?" The bull Faunus admonished, the other three taking in his words for a few minutes, Jin rolling his eyes as the Nevermore woman bowed her head.

"My apologies, Adam. Knox had chosen to pursue and I simply followed orders." She explained, Adam letting out a deep breath from his nostrils.

"Let's just get this meeting underway before our guest walks off." He ordered, the group heading off toward a nearby building with Roman and Chloe in tow.

The building they entered was as filthy and decayed inside as it was outside, the floorboards creaking with each step as Adam led the way to a room at the far end of the hall, guided by the flickering light of an overhead bulb. He opened the door, leading the rest into a wide, dark room with the faint illumination of a wall of collected TV screens, all broadcasting the same video at different times. Roman looked at the screens, seeing Faunus sit-ins being met with either fire hoses or gunfire, groups of humans cornering and beating lone Fauni in the streets and videos of Faunus children being taken forcefully from their parents by the guards of wealthy humans. Intercut with the footage were recordings of a woman with dulled green eyes and long withered black hair, a single white streak running through it. Her face was covered in tattoos reminiscent of the facial markings of a Beowolf.. In some screens, Roman could see the could see a single dog's ear.

"Children of the revolution, we are on the very precipice of a new era. We could have not done this alone, we have struck fear into the hearts of those who will not accept who we are… Through that fear, they will respect us. When that day comes, we shall show them who the real plague actually were. I am so proud of each and every one of my subordinates for sacrificing so much to change the chained down ways of the old world. I try to remain humble in my claims as the leader of the 'Black Fang.' But they don't understand that we don't have another choice… We were disrespected, assaulted, attacked and segregated for decades… Every minute of the pain we shall wrought is the hill they choose to die on for all the suffering humanity has caused." The dog-ear woman said before the gathered crowd. "Be wary, the mark of the Black Fang we all bare will make us a huge target, but just remember that we are the strongest when we are many, not few… and we have achieved our highest amount of members since the Siege of Ableton harmed so many members of the White Claw, who are misguided in their ways of peace… We've tried peace.. It failed. War is the only solution we have left. We are only monsters because they made us this way." She said, the video creating a static effect and a flickering between the dog-eared woman and a Beowolf mask.

"I wonder if you guys have this on loop, or is she saying this constantly?" Torchwick asked, breaking the silence slightly. The only response he got angered glares of the four Fauni. "...Okay, crossed a line. Let's try and get to business before someone ends up pinned to the wall." Torchwick said, Adam growled and nodded, turning to a shoddily repaired wooden table and a dented steel folding chair. He sat down, removing his King Kuja mask and revealing his bright red hair and dark brown eyes, white bone stumps protruding from the hair.

"Now, Roman. You could've gone to anyone for help. There are more than enough crime families in Vale. Plenty of Hunters who are desperate for some coin, but you have come here like a deer trotting into the wolf's den. Why?" Adam asked, the white-suited criminal adjusting his bowler with a smile.

"Because I'm too important to die, I have too many ways to help your little grassroots cause, and you know that…" he began, the bull Faunus tightening his fists on the table. "Ontop of that… I'm just not a big fan of scare tactics." He said, Adam gripping the table edges tightly.

"Adam, we don't need him. He's no different than a royal or some corporate bigwig wanting us to pacify ourselves for them." The Nevermore woman said.

"...We will let him speak his case before we decide how we deal with him, Alyssa." The red-haired Faunus said, turning to Roman. "But you're on thin ice, so make it good or you'll be hanging from the fence." Adam warned, Chloe grabbing at the hilt of her parasol before her boss put a hand on her shoulder.

"Easy, Chloe. Now then, I see you've gathered quite a nice little group of followers with plenty of black spray paint to tag the brick walls and warn your own kind you're around, but how many of you have the real source of power in this Kingdom? The one thing that no other Kingdom has and want more than anything?" Roman asked, Adam tapping the table.

"Get to the point, Torchwick. Our time is valuable and your time is limited. Waste neither of it." Knox warned as he stood by the door.

"Okay, fine! Excuse me for having a bit of flair! My point is that I can supply you with Dust. Every crystal, vial and round you could ever ask for." Roman offered, the group exchanging glances before Adam spoke up again.

"Dust has been the one thing that seems to elude us. Too heavily protected. You would be willing to supply us?" The Black Fang general asked, Torchwick finally smiling as they seemed to be getting somewhere.

"Not just Dust, but also the best black market weapons you'll need for your army." He said with a twirl of his cane.

"I should've guessed you'd have black market connections." Alyssa said with a snide tone.

"Sweetheart, I _am_ the black market." The white-suited criminal said with a wink, Chloe playfully mirroring the wink. The armored woman rolled her eyes in response, Adam still deep in contemplation over Roman's offer.

"And what will you want in exchange?" He asked, Torchwick chuckling a bit.

"All I want is a few of your soldiers. Doesn't even have to be your finest, just a few grunts to do smaller jobs while you guys help out with the… big jobs." Roman explained, Jin looking suspiciously at the human.

"Big jobs? You talkin' wet work, Torchwick?" Jin asked.

"That's peanuts compared to the jobs I'm offering. No, what my benefactors have planned for Vale… well, I don't want to give away too much but let's just say that when it's all said and done… there won't be a Kingdom of Vale." Torchwick said somewhat ominously, the four generals once again looking to each other, most disbelieving at what this human was telling them. Vale had been in power for centuries and had withstood anything that could be thrown at it. Waves of Grimm, the Atlesian military power, several civil wars. Even the Direwolf only saw visions of the Black Fang ruling Vale, not standing over its ruins. Just who was Roman Torchwick to claim that he was in the back pocket of someone who had the goal and the means to wipe Vale off the map?

However, his words held an air of conviction and purpose. As far as Adam, Knox, Alyssa or Jin could tell, he meant every word of his offer to them and his claim of Vale's demise. Adam stood from his chair, offering a hand to Torchwick. "Then it's settled. But understand that the Black Fang does not suffer traitors gladly even if they are our own kind. Don't be the first human to try and double-cross or you will be the last." He warned as Roman politely shook his hand, tipping his hat to the four.

"Excellent! I'll be sending Chloe around soon with some crates of Dust for you to sample but for tonight, how about we celebrate this alliance?" Roman offered, the group staring at him in confusion as he walked off, spinning his cane in his finger with Chloe in tow.

"Are you sure about this man, Adam? He's making big promises for a human. He could turn on us the second he gets our soldiers." Knox said, Adam nodding as he headed towards the door.

Perhaps, but even a human would be foolish to turn his back on the Black Fang and expect to live. Besides, you all heard how determined he was when he said there wouldn't be a Vale left. Maybe he's onto something here. So I think I'll take him up on his offer and have a little fun. Come on, Jin. Or have you gone soft on me?" He asked with a smile across his face as he put the King Kuja mask back on his head.

General Ironwood watched as their men shoved the hysterical criminal into the back of a police car. "We appreciate your help, General Ironwood. I dunno how you found out about this place but we'll be sure to clean it out once the smoke from the tent clears." The Vale police captain said, ironwood nodding as his trusted Lieutenant ran towards him.

"General! The Atlesian Knights have been destroyed! All of them!" She said as she came to a stop, quickly saluting.

"At ease, Lieutenant Schnee." He said, Winter dropping her arm. James headed towards the remains of the fairgrounds, seeing the scattered parts of several Knights on the ground, the hum of sparking wires filling the air as he walked. While his expression remained neutral, the General was deeply concerned to see some of the strongest robotic soldiers in the Atlesian military reduced to mere trash on the ground. Winter caught up with Ironwood as he walked, the two surveying the damage. "It seems that Roman Torchwick has done more than just rile up a bunch of disgruntled lower-class types to riot. He's built an actual army… but one that can fight back against the Atlesian Army so easily?" James asked, Winter spotting something flapping in the distance.

"..It would appear that Torchwick has some assistance." She said, picking up speed as she got closer and closer to the object, a red flag flowing in the passing wind, marked with a black wolf's head with bared, bloodstained teeth. "...General! Come quickly!" Winter shouted, James running towards his Lieutenant and seeing the flag.

"...They were here... " Ironwood said, Winter clearing her throat slightly

"...General, if it would be possible, I feel like my sister's safety is at risk. Could we have her transferred to Mantle instead?" The older Schnee asked, General Ironwood holding up a hand.

"That decision is to be left to Weiss… besides, Vale may be at risk, but as long Professor Ozpin is in that tower, Beacon will be safe." He said, walking away from the Black Fang flag.

"Forgive me, general, but I'm confused. I thought that after tonight you and Professor Ozpin were on bad terms, so why do you speak so glowingly of him?" Winter asked.

"I do not approve of his students and his methods as headmaster of Beacon, but I still respect Ozpin himself…. I owe him too much to ever truly turn against him." Ironwood said as they headed towards a nearby air shuttle.

"We will need to fortify the Avalon before we gather the troops for our departure. I want to make sure none of Torchwick's followers or the Black Fang find their way onto the ship." He said, Winter nodding.

"Of course, sir. Anything else?" She asked, James nodding.

"Do not allow Penny out of your sights. We came dangerously close to losing her and I will not have that happen again." The General said with a note of fury in his voice, Winter averting her gaze from him as she saluted.

"Of course, sir. I won't let her elude me again, sir." She said as they stepped onto the shuttle.


	31. The Ship to Vytal

Ruby ran through the Emerald Forest, the night sky leaving her little light to see where she was going. Over her own panicked breath she could hear the wind howl softly as the tree branches rustled. A large tree soon broke into her into her sight, the Beacon student halting her movement before she collided with it. "Hah… hah… okay… I think I'm good here…" she said, turning her head away from the tree to survey the landscape when she spotted a figure in the distance. "No.. no…" Ruby gasped out, putting her hands to her mouth to halt her breathing, hoping that the figure hadn't spotted her yet. She stood close the treat, breathing halted and watched as the figure moved closer and closer, the soft crunch of dew-covered grass beneath their feet becoming louder and louder. The black shape stopped before leaving the shadows and smiled a bright white smiled full of razor sharp, jagged teeth. Ruby let out a hushed cry as the figure lunged out, revealing the face of Chloe Quinn. Chloe grabbed onto Ruby's throat tightly and held her against the tree, unsheathing her sword and pointing it to the young teen's chin. "Please… no…" she gasped out, Chloe simply smiling and uttered the simple word "die…" with a deep, raspy growl before plunging the sword through Ruby's neck.

Ruby let out a scream as she shot up from her bed, knocking over Lil' Pyrrha who had been resting comfortably under her arm that night with a squeak sound as it hit the floor. "Victory is yours with enough determination!" The toy said a canned statement with a muffled electronic voice. With shaking hands she patted at her own neck, feeling no wounds or punctures. Chloe didn't stab her at all and she hadn't been in the Emerald Forest at night.

"It was a dream…just a dream…" Ruby said to herself in a mantra, looking around to see the rest of the dorm had gone, leaving her there to continue reciting that she had been dreaming. Within minutes, the door opened, Ruby looking up to see Yang dressed in a yellow t-shirt and black shorts carrying a scrunchie. Her long golden locks looked to have been cut short, now stopping at her shoulder-blades

"Morning, sis! Feeling good? Got a… spring in your step today?" Yang said, drawing out the word 'spring' for maximum pun emphasis and uppercutting the oncoming pillow from her younger sister, hitting the ceiling softly.

"Just get out, Yang. I'm not in the mood…" Ruby said, pulling her covers closer as Yang walked over to the mirror, pulling back her hair and working on getting it through the hairpiece.

"Ah man, this again? Y'know, sometimes I feel like someone replaced my awesome lil' sister with a lethargic, mopey doppelganger. Tell me where Ruby went." Yang joked as she finished her ponytail, turning to see Ruby curled up, holding her legs close to her chest. Yang slowly walked over, sitting down and reaching over to her little sister, Ruby pulling her shoulder away. "...You dreamed about her again, didn't you?" The older sister asked, Ruby nodding slowly.

"She won't leave… she won't stop until she gets me…" Ruby said, tears slowly forming in her eyes. Yang reached over to wipe them away.

"Ruby, I swear that one day I will make her pay for what she did to you." Yang said reassuringly, the teardrop on her finger dissolving slowly as a tinge of heat built around her. "But since that won't cheer you up today, I've got something that'll do just the trick!" She said, pushing herself off the bed and walking over to own. Yang pulled her bag up from underneath the bed and reached inside, pulling out a small blue ticket and handing it to Ruby. She looked at the ticket, seeing the bold lettering read " **Vytal Festival Tournament** " and sending her jaw to the floor.

"No way… how did you…?" Ruby asked, Yang smiling and ruffling her sister's hair.

"When Coco got her tickets, she hosted a tournament with the Boxing Club to see who'd win a ticket and who won? Yang. Xiao. Long." Yang said, pointing to herself with her thumbs with each part of her name.

"...Never do that again, Yang." Ruby said throwing Lil' Pyrrha at her head with another canned statement.

"I'm a winner because I eat breakfast." The doll uttered, the line sounding extremely unenthusiastic, the two staring down at the plush before Ruby returned her eyes to the ticket. Ruby looked down at the ticket in her hand, slowly smiling. Even with how embarrassing her sister could be, going to the Vytal Festival Tournament was a huge honor and Ruby was surprised that Yang would give it up just to make her feel better.

"Wow… thanks so much, Yang. I mean, you must've fought really hard to get this ticket and it means a lot to me that you'd just give it to me." Ruby said, finally smiling as she held the ticket tightly in her hand. Yang then chuckled and pulled a second ticket out of her bag. "...Wait, you got two? Where did you get that?" Ruby asked.

"Well, this was the one I got from the tournament. Yours I had to fight Coco for." She explained, Ruby's eyes widening.

"You did what?" She said, shocked as Yang went to grab a pair of socks.

"Well, it had been about a week since the Red Lantern Pier incident and I noticed you were looking really down and nothing got you to smile. I tried every pun in my book and you just kept moping. I tried making some of your favorite foods and nearly got pinned to a wall with a spatula by Troy so no luck there. I even got Pyrrha to sign a pic for you and I knew this was bad because you just kind of nodded and said it looked cool. You were shaken up and I needed something big to make you feel better. So I went to Coco, knowing she got two tickets as a first-time fighter, and said I'd do anything to get that ticket. Double-time on drills, washing her clothes, taste testing her meals. I wasn't leaving until I got that ticket, so Coco challenged me to a fight. We agreed to five rounds and man could Coco take a punch. But I knocked her out around the fourth round and got the ticket." Yang said, telling the whole story before being tackled to the bed by an oncoming hug.

"Thank you, Yang! You're the best sister I've ever had!" Ruby squealed in joy, Yang grabbing her head tight around her arm and giving her a gentle noogie with the other.

"Ruby, I'm the only sister you've ever had." The older sister said, releasing Ruby's head and zipping up her boots. "Now c'mon and get dressed. We don't want to miss the ship taking us to Vytal." Yang said as she grabbed her helmet from the closet, running out with her helmet and packed bag.

Ruby opened up her drawer, looking around for something to wear after having to toss out her old shirt and skirt, both having been damaged in the scuffle in the tent. She pulled out a black long sleeve shirt and red vest, putting them on before grabbing some black pants. "Hrm… gonna be windy out at sea…" Ruby muttered to herself as she grabbed her cape. The cape itself had been torn during the fight but she couldn't really let a gift from her mother be thrown away. It'd take a bit of stitching, but it was salvageable. She put the cape on went to grab her boots from the closet, opening the door to see her boots and another pair of shoes she got from her uncle Crow. They were black rollerskates with flame decals, the shelf above the skates having a matching helmet. She quickly grabbed the skates, putting them on and rolling across the room, packing her bag and and grabbing a nearby red sash and tying it around her waist, making sure it didn't drag on the floor as she skated out of the dorm room.

She skated out of the school, rolling her way up to the gate where Yang was waiting with Hornet. "Heh, glad to see those things aren't just gonna collect dust in the closet." Yang said as Ruby swiped her I.D. card. "You got your money?" She asked, Ruby grabbing at the pouch hooked to her belt and shaking it, listening to the jingle of Lien. The gate swung open, Yang climbing onto her bike and kicking the engine to life. "Race ya!" Yang exclaimed as she speed off, Ruby skating after her. She weaved through pedestrians, jumping over small dogs and ducking under an elderly man's watermelon.

"Damn kids! You nearly knocked over my melon!" Ruby heard him shout as she continued her way to the pier, seeing the massive cruise liner in the distance. The ship looked to be 1000 feet in length and had a line that more resembled a crowd.

She came to stop at the back of the line, unbuckling her skates and kicking them off. The Beacon student pulled out her boots as she looked to see where Yang was. "Come on… why did Yang have to cut her hair short today?" She bemoaned, standing on tiptoe to try and spot the taller blonde. The line moved slowly, Ruby tapping her foot in rhythm to a song that was repeating in her head. As she walked, she absentmindedly bumped into someone in front of her. "Ack! Sorry about that! This line's been going on forever and I wasn't looking where I was going!" Ruby said, bowing her head before the one in front of her spoke.

"Please step back. I'm reserving Nora's space for her." Ren said, Ruby looking up and seeing him clad in his usual pants and a black Team ANVL shirt.

"Oh! Hey Ren!" Ruby said, stepping back slightly and soon spotting a pink flag with Nora's head as part of coat of arms. The crossed arms were Magnhild and small, bored-looking Ren. The flag read "Nora's Spot" in rainbow letters, Ren holding the flag with both hands as it flowed in the breeze.

"Uh… you want me to take that?" Ruby offered politely, Ren handing the flag to her with a blunt. "Yes" and turning to grab his stuff. Ruby held the flag up, questions racing to her head as she stood behind Ren. She had never been in long conversations with him alone and didn't get to know the martial artist. She decided to take this time in line to break the ice. "Hey, Ren. How did you get to Beacon?"" Ruby asked.

"I enrolled in Beacon and passed the entrance exam." He said simply, Ruby blinking a bit.

"N-no… like, before that… where did you come from?" Ruby asked.

"Mistral." Ren said.

"Okay, how about your family?" Ruby asked, maybe thinking he'd open up on that topic a little more.

"Well, my father's hormones drew him to my mother. My mother reciprocated his desires and they developed a relationship and as adults, they made the mature and difficult decision to engage in the act o-"

"NO! Nonononono I don't need to hear that! I mean.. Uhh.. How do I put this? What made you want to become a hunter?" Ruby asked, Ren's head dropping suddenly

"...I wanted a way to escape my father…" he said, Ruby's eyes widening.

"Escape your father?" She asked, Ruby nodding.

"My father is General Lie Zhong, a highly decorated veteran of Mistral's armed forces and one of their best fighters. In our house there were several rooms, but the one I was in most of the time was his dojo. He had done everything he could to continue his legacy and I wanted to make him proud… but all I ever got was criticism and demands to try harder. He had secluded me from the rest of the world. Take a walk around Mistral and ask anyone you see if they ever met Lie Ren and they'll ask who that is." Ren explained, Ruby's heart sinking slightly at the thought. To be so cut off from others that no one knows you exist…

"My mother did her best to raise me, but even she couldn't stop father by that point. He yelled at her for coddling me, making me soft…" Ren said, tightening his fists.

"But you've been in tournaments, right? Someone had to know about what your dad was doing…" Ruby said, hoping this story would have some kind of happy ending.

"Most of the other fighters tended to ignore me, thinking I was arrogant since I was just a teen and beat most grown men in a fight. I had grown used to the isolation so it didn't surprise me that they left me alone… all except for Nora. She was the only one who actually wanted to talk to me. During lunch, she'd sit next to me and talk my ear off for hours. I'm honestly surprised she'd even want to be near me given how her family and my own are like oil and fire. A dignified family with ties to the Mistral royal family and a pack of boorish nomads with beards that could nest a forest full of birds." Ren said, Ruby taking it all in and imagining, among other things, Nora with a full red beard. She shuddered at the thought before returning to Ren's story.

"But she stayed by my side. I've asked why countless times and the answer is always the same," he began, his mouth opening to quote her when he heard so often when another voice spoke up.

"Because you looked so sad sitting over there by yourself. And I was gonna make it my goal to get a smile out of you before the Mistral Regional ended." Nora said as she walked over, grabbing the flag from Ruby. Like Ren, she was wearing her Team ANVL shirt along with her usual pink skirt and white boots with pink laces. "Then comes our fight and we went the whole hour. You got the win on points, but I won out in the end when I spotted you lying on the arena floor with a big smile on your face." Nora said softly.

"Ren smiles?" Ruby asked with the same amount of surprise in her voice she had upon learning Beacon had a moat.

"You know, Ruby. People always ask us how we can stand each other. And sure, Nora can be a chaotic and destructive…" Ren said, Nora rolling her eyes and smiling.

"And Ren can be boring and awkward…" she shot back, Ren simply nodding.

"But we've always looked out for each other and I wouldn't want anyone else by my side." He said, a smile forming on his face as Nora wrapped her arms around him tightly. Ruby winced as she heard the soft crack of what she assumed was the Mistral boy's ribs, but seeing this side of Ren and just how much his friendship to Nora meant to him made Ruby smile as well.

"So… not to ruin the moment, but how did you guys get tickets?" She asked as Nora released Ren from her death-hug.

"Pyrrha gave us the tickets. She's got a special guest spot at the ceremony." Nora explained as they got onto the ramp leading onto the ship.

"Oh, that's cool. Hope we get to see her before the tournament." Ruby said as the walk on the ramp moved more briskly than when they were on the pier.

"Come on, Ren! Let's get to the buffet before the boat starts to run out of shepherd's pie!" Nora exclaimed, dragging Ren along. Ruby waved them goodbye and headed off the other way, looking around to find anyone she knew. As she traveled the decks, she walked into another person, falling onto her rear.

"Ack! Sorry about… that… wow…" Ruby said, feeling a lot smaller compared to the young man with shaved black hair, tanned skin and small black eyes. He was wearing tight black t-shirt, brown pants and black boots covered by a pale green, short-sleeved robe. The man simply smiled and held out a hand.

"No harm done. Excited about your first time at Vytal?" He asked, Ruby getting up and nodding to the giant standing before her.

"Y-yeah… it's pretty cool... he's so tall…" Ruby muttered in awe, the seven foot fighter chuckling.

"Yes, so I've heard. And let's see… dark red hair, green eyes, red cape, tiny… Velvet's told me about you. You're Ruby Rose, right?" He asked.

"Yeah… wait, you're Yatsuhashi?" Ruby asked in reply.

"That's right. Daichi Yatsuhashi. It's nice to meet you, Ruby." Yatsuhashi said, turning to look out to the ocean as the ship began to take off.

"You ever been on a boat before, Ruby?" Yatsuhashi asked, Ruby thinking back to her childhood.

"No, this is actually my first time on a boat." She admitted, looking over the rail to watch Vale fade from sight as they floated along.

"My dad's a fisherman, so I've been out on the water before. But it was mostly just sitting under the sun along the river waiting for something to bite." Yatsuhashi said, Ruby now left with the mental image of a seven foot man sitting in a little rowboat with a fishing pole. She was broken from her daydreaming by the sound of retching coming from the right. She looked to see Jaune bent over the ship's rail, Velvet gently patting his back.

"It keeps moving, oh man..." Jaune complained between emptying his stomach of its contents. Ruby and Yatsuhashi walked over to the two.

"Hey Jaune! Looks like you haven't gotten your sea legs either, huh?" Ruby said, Jaune simply groaning and letting out strained "Shut up…" in response.

"Just take deep breaths, Jaune. It's still early so you'll probably run out of food, right?" Velvet said in a reassuring tone, Jaune nodding and breathing deeply.

"Hey Jaune, you see Pyrrha anywhere?" Ruby asked, Jaune pulling his head back and wiping his mouth with a tissue.

"She's getting fitted for the ceremonial Vytal armor. The room's on the upper deck. It's the fourth door on the-" Velvet began to explain as a voice called out from a nearby set of stairs leading to the lower deck.

"VELVET! YATSU! BREAKFAST TIME IS OVER! IT'S TIME FOR PUNCHING!" Coco shouted, Velvet letting out an "Eep!" and running off.

"Gotta go! Talk later, Jaune!" The rabbit Faunus said as headed down the stairs, Yatsuhashi in tow. Jaune sighed in relief, taking another deep breath.

"There, I think my stomach's finally stopped hating me." He said, Ruby chuckling and heading for the upper deck.

"You wanna come with, Jaune?" Ruby asked, the vomiting boy nodded and following her up the stairs. "So, how's Team ANVL been doing?" Ruby asked.

"We've been doing great. I've been learning a lot now that I've gotten out of my funk and I'm doing some great combos with the others, I even got Velvet's team training me on the side when I'm not sparring one-on-one with Ren." Jaune said as they walked through the halls, checking each room. They knocked on the doors, only getting fighters from other schools answering them. Jaune was telling Ruby about a tag team move he and Nora had been working on when Ruby picked up on a name that came up often during this conversation.

"Hey, about Velvet. You've been hanging out with her a lot. Are you two going out?" She asked, Jaune turning red.

"Ack! What? No! We're just friends!" Jaune said, Ruby laughing at how flustered he was getting. She gave him a friendly pat on the back.

"Heh, take it easy Jaune. You're turning as red as my shirt." She said with a wink, Jaune letting out a sigh.

"Can you keep a secret?" He asked, Ruby nodding her head.

"Not even one of Yang's power noogies could force this out of me." Ruby said, the blonde Beacon student taking that as a sign of good faith.

"So, I… well… I actually do like Velvet…I mean, she's… oh man, what's the word?" Jaune said, face warming up again as he looked up at the ceiling, tongue pressed to the roof of his mouth.

"Nice?" Ruby asked, Jaune smiling and letting out a sigh of infatuation.

"Nice, funny, smart, doesn't yell..." Jaune said, Ruby blinking and tilting her head.

"Doesn't yell? I mean, isn't that a lot of girls you know? I don't yell." she said, Jaune rolling his eyes.

"You totally yell. I've heard you and Yang yell at each other in the halls." He shot back.

"Okay, yeah. But we're sisters, Jaune. That's what sisters do. They yell at each other but they still love each other, ya know?" Ruby said defensively.

"No offense or anything, Ruby. I'm pretty sure I know how sisters act. I have seven of them and all. You can't play the 'you don't get it' card on me." Jaune said, Ruby raising a finger to argue before realizing he had her there.

"What about Pyrrha or Blake? They don't yell that much." Ruby said.

"Hey, when did I say I wanted my interest in girls put under scrutiny?" Jaune asked, ears turning pink.

"Look, I just wanna know why Velvet's the one that's making you all lovey-dovey." Ruby said, Jaune dropping his face into his palm.

"Okay, yes. Blake and Pyrrha are quiet. But Blake's somewhere past quiet and into dead silence. I'm still not sure how you or Weiss get anything out of her. Velvet said that I'd just get to know her better but every time I walk up to Blake she just kind of stares at me… and stares at me…" he said with a shudder, Ruby laughing.

"Blake's not that scary, Jaune. You just gotta find some common ground and she'll open up to you. With me, it's books. We both love Kings & Pawns and could talk for hours on that. With Weiss, it's music. Weiss is always playing that violin Blake got her. I kinda wish she didn't do it early in the morning, but she's gotten better at it so it's not that bad… I dunno what Blake and Velvet have in common… you could try asking one of them and see if it's something you and Blake have in common." Ruby said as they once again opened the wrong door.

"Okay, so how about Pyrrha? She's nice, smart, funny, awesome, soft-spoken, cool, awesome, a great fighter, awesome and-" Ruby said, nearly slipping to old fangirl habits before Jaune put a hand to her mouth to plug the flood of compliments.

"Thing is with Pyrrha, I just can't see her that way. She's been a great mentor and friend, I think I respect her too much to ever consider something like that." He explained, Ruby nodding.

"Wow, Jaune. That's… that's pretty mature of you." Ruby said, Jaune rolling his eyes.

"Aren't you kind of young to define what maturity is supposed to be? Now, Velvet said fourth door on the left?" Jaune said, turning the knob of the nearby door, hearing the faint sound of what he thought was a violin. Ruby swung the door open enthusiastically, smacking it against the wall with a soft thud.

"Hey, Pyrrha!" She shouted, her wide smile fading as soon as she saw a pair of ice blue eyes glaring at her and Jaune. "Ah… eheheheheh, hey Weiss. Enjoying the cruise?" Ruby asked, backing away as the Schnee heiress gritted her teeth, gently setting down the violin before charging at the two intruders. She jabbed the end of her bow into Jaune's chest, poking through his ANVL shirt and causing him to wince.

"Farmgirl! Vomit Boy! How dare you two barge in? Did they not teach you manners at Patch?! Honestly, I can't believe the two of you were given tickets!" Weiss exclaimed, stabbing at Jaune's chest with her bow for emphasis.

"And I can't believe anyone would give you a ticket, Snow Queen!" Ruby shouted back, reaching for the bow in the hopes of striking her with it. Weiss quickly pulled her arm back, twirling the bow in her fingers.

"-I- bought my ticket, since I actually have money." She said, putting her nose up.

"I have money! ...Just not enough for a Vytal ticket…" Ruby said, her voice trailing off a bit as Weiss seemed to have bested her. Blake stepped out from behind Weiss, leaving the chair she was sitting in.

"Hey Ruby, Jaune. You looking for Pyrrha?" She asked, Ruby smiling and nodding while Jaune looked at his chest to see if he had bruised.

"Down the hall, and then go right. Fourth door." Blake said before slinking back into the room.

"Thanks, Blake! Seeya later!" Ruby said, grabbing Jaune's arm and dragging him away. Weiss sighed and shut the door behind her, walking over to her violin.

"Really, Blake. I don't know how you can stand Ruby. She can be so grating. Like nails on a chalkboard sometimes!" She said in a huff as she tucked the violin underneath her chin, Blake grabbing a book off the nightstand and looking for her spot.

"Or like you with that violin?" Blake said with a smirk as she went back to reading. Weiss rolled her eyes and resumed playing. Weiss had indeed improved since first getting the violin on Renewal and was now playing a cheerful tune as Blake read, shutting her eyes and taking in the returning calm. Weiss breathed in the smell of sea salt, moving her feet in rhythm to the rocking of the ship.


	32. The Opening Ceremony

Down in the lower deck, Team CFVY's room had been converted into a makeshift training center, mattresses pulled from their frames and laid out on the floor. Two team had split into two sets of sparring partners, Coco and Yatsuhashi on one mattress, Fox and Velvet on the adjacent mattress. Coco was on the offensive, firing hard shots to the bigger Yatsuhashi's abdomen. Yatsu stood tall, seemingly unfazed by the punches. "That's the stuff, big man! You are a tank with a race car engine!" Coco said enthusiastically as she nailed another right hook into Yatsuhashi's ribs.

"Coco, a race car engine lacks the torque necessary to carry a military tank. What you're saying is that Yatsuhashi is big and entirely useless." Fox said as he caught Velvet's oncoming sidekick, catching her with both of his arms.

"Hi." She said nervously, somewhat cradled in his arms, before she got thrown over his head. She landed on her back gently on the mat, the two standing up and getting back into the fight. Throughout training, Fox noticed that the rabbit Faunus' eyes were not focused on him and seemed to be more looking at the floor.

"Time!" He called, Coco stopping mid-straight and turning to face her partner.

"What's up, Alistair?" Coco asked, walking over to his and Velvet's mat.

"Velvet's distracted. She's been looking more at the floor than me and from the looks of things, she's not watching my footwork." Fox explained, team CFVY's leader pulling her shades down and staring at Velvet with chocolate brown eyes. Velvet quickly looked down, reaching for her hood to hide her face.

"I-I'm just a bit tired from training. I-It's been a l-l-long week and my eyes are getting heavy." She explained, trying to avoid Coco's gaze. Coco smirked and continued to stare into Velvet's eyes before finally speaking.

"You're hiding something, Velvet Scarlatina. You've got something on your mind and it's cutting into your focus. Now spill it, what's eating you?" Coco asked, Velvet pulling back her hood.

"I understand that being a hunter puts us in the public eye… But we're going to be in an arena, and if we make even one mistake, we'll be laughing stocks on national TV… Also… You know… The fact that I'm a Faunus might make it even worse..." Velvet said, not looking her team in the eye. She felt a hand clap her shoulder, Velvet let out a soft squeal, looking up to see Yatsuhashi standing behind her with a warm smile.

"It's gonna be okay, Velvet. This is gonna be our first time in the spotlight and it's gonna be nerve-wracking for all of us… except maybe Coco." he said, Coco putting her shades back up and grinning. "So you gotta keep your head up or else you're gonna make mistakes. And don't worry about your ears too much. You're not exactly among normal people." Yatsuhashi said, Velvet looking around at her team and realizing Yatsu wasn't wrong about that. Between Yatsuhashi's height, Fox's scarred body and Coco's boisterous personality, CFVY was far from normal. A smile slowly formed on her face as Coco walked over to her, putting an arm around Velvet's shoulders.

"You're gonna do great, Velvet. You haven't let us down before and you won't let us down here." Coco said in an uncharacteristically gentle voice.

"Thanks guys…. I think I can do this now…" Velvet said, turning to face Fox and putting up her fists. The two went back into sparring, Fox catching her leg again only for Velvet to kick him in the back of the head with her free foot.

The ship's horn blared out, signaling that they had hit dry land. Team CFVY stopped their sparring, Coco walking over to her bag, tossing bottles of water to her teammates. She opened up a fourth bottle and took a drink, spraying the water out of her mouth and into the air above her. "Alright team, the time has come upon us! We have been together through the hardest missions all over the four Kingdoms! Harsh Atlas winters, scorching Vacuo sunlight, the bamboo forests of Mistral and even our mainland of Vale. We've killed all manner of Grimm so this tournament will be a breeze! But that doesn't mean we rest on our laurels! We're gonna fight and we're gonna take that trophy back to Beacon! I can feel it, the Hype is rushing through my veins! It's burning and boiling, waiting to burst out of my skin! Let's get out there and win this for Beacon!" Coco exclaimed, raising a fist and letting out a cry of excitement. The rest of her team applauded, rushing out of the room and heading up the stairs.

Departing the ship took longer for Team CFVY than boarding it, but soon they had stepped out, heading onto the fairgrounds. Velvet looked around the fairgrounds, seeing vendor stands selling food and merchandise to passerby. Teams were sitting on the grass getting in last minute training, weapon maintenance and planning for the tournament. Coco was leading them closer to the massive stadium with a huge banner for the Vytal Festival Tournament draped across it. "That's the spot. Amity Colosseum" she said, pushing her shades up the bridge of her nose. "This beauty was made after the signing of the Vytal Treaty, which ended the Atlesian Conflict and fostered peace between the Four Kingdoms for the first time in history, one that has lasted over a century." Coco explained as they kept walking, Fox checking his watch.

"Coco, much as I love hearing a history lesson you probably got from a pamphlet on the way here, we have 15 minutes to get to the arena for the opening ceremony, and they don't like it when people arrive at the last minute." Fox said, Coco nodding and immediately running toward the Colosseum with her team in tow.

The process for entering Amity Colosseum was different between fighters and audience members. Audience members would get their tickets punched and be allowed through the doors and given instructions to find their seat. Fighters required the team leader to present documents to the ticket taker, who would give them directions to the secondary entrance. Team CFVY made the walk to the side of the arena, where a hidden door opened. This turned out to be step one. Step two was the more complicated process of fitting the fighters with metallic wrist braces with black screens. Velvet looked down at hers as it was being put on her wrist, seeing the screen light up and show her name and picture with a row of green bars underneath.

"These are your vital trackers. They're specially designed to monitor your heart rate, breathing, brain activity, blood levels and other signs of life," the technician explained, pointing to each of the green bars which had relevant symbols to the left of them. "The fights usually go to either knockout, ring out or until a fighter is incapacitated, but we don't want take any risks. Should any of your vitals drop below satisfactory levels, the referee will halt the fight and you must switch out with a partner. And I don't care how much it itches, you are not to forcefully remove the tracker between rounds. If you do…" he said, yanking the brace off Velvet and getting a loud, shrill beeping and a flashing red "WARNING" screen in response. Velvet quickly plugged her ears as the technician pressed a sequence of buttons on the side of the tracker, the screen turning black. "Once you're all calibrated, you'll be getting your release passwords to shut off the tracker. Keep your tracker close by or you will not be allowed to compete if you arrive to the arena without it. Got it?" The technician asked, Velvet giving a shaky nod and removing her fingers from her ears.

After a few minutes of tracker calibration, they moved onto step three; preventative measures. Fighters set their weapons down onto tables where specialists began to work on dulling blades and loading guns with hardened rubber rounds. "While this festival may have had a history related to fighting to the death, we don't need our hunters killing each other when they could be killing Grimm." One of the specialists said gruffly as he loaded one of Coco's seven guns with rubber rounds.

"I told you to only bring what we needed." Fox muttered to his partner, who simply smiled and pushed up her shades.

"I need all the guns." She said playfully, Fox sighing and grabbing his curved blades, attaching one to his wrist.

Upon completing step three, Team CFVY were given a number and told to step onto the platform with that number on it. They went down the corridor, hearing the raucous crowd grow louder and louder with each step. Upon stepping out of the corridor they were greeted with the full volume of the cheers, the stadium seats packed to the rafters, banners bearing the symbol of all four Kingdoms hanging from the rafters. Velvet began to hyperventilate as she looked around at the thousands of screaming fans, Coco putting an arm on her shoulder. "Damn! Place looks like it got all 50,000 packed! Don't worry yourself too much. We'll take charge to let you get used to the noise." Coco said, Velvet nodding as her breathing started to slow.

Team CFVY headed for their platform, following the directions given to see several teams gathered around in the same corner standing on small circular platforms, marked with a banner of the symbol of Vale, two axes crossed with a laurel around them. Team CFVY stood onto the platform, Velvet taking a look at the other Kingdom's teams. Straight ahead were Mantle Academy students dressed in full inform, some waving the Atlas flag proudly. Velvet noticed Fox was speaking but she could barely hear him over the crowd noise. "What?!" Velvet shouted, Fox still unable to break through the crowd and be heard. "I still can't hear you!" She yelled, still not hearing Fox as he talked. "Never mind!" Velvet shouted once more before turning her head left to look at the Shade teams.

She felt a bit more at ease seeing several hunters with tails, horns and animal ears among the hunters of Vacuo's Shade Academy. She wasn't the Faunus in the tournament and there were others in the crowd scattered among other Kingdoms with a heavier number in Vacuo's seats. She looked to the right at the Haven teams, seeing a sea of black jackets and pants with white armbands on their left arms, standing in place with their hands at their sides. The PA system blared to life, bringing the crowd to complete silence within seconds. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our special host for this year's Vytal Festival Tournament. Four time Mistral Regional Tournament Champion and Beacon student Pyrrha Nikos!" The announcer blared, the crowd exploding in cheers as Pyrrha walked out from the Beacon section corridor, her fellow students applauding her as she waved to them, Velvet looking in shock at Pyrrha's ceremonial costume.

The clothes Pyrrha was wearing were the gaudiest things Velvet had ever seen, even with a year of Coco's rejected team uniforms to consider. She was dressed as the goddess of Valor, who was often portrayed as a eagle woman hybrid. Her face was obscured by a helmet with a massive beak made of gold and glass going over her face, a hole in the top cut to let her bright red hair spill out, the gilded lining shimmering in the sunlight. On top of this, her arms were wrapped in two gauntlets made of massive golden wings that made it so she couldn't rest her arms to her side, forcing her to hold a torch over her head with one arm and a beautifully crafted golden replica sword in the other. She was wearing a long red dress with golden leg armor with wingtips on the boots. She looked up to see a bowl of kindling with the symbols of the four Kingdoms engraved on it resting on the top of the stadium. Before she could turn to ask how she was supposed to light the bowl, she was lifted into the air by wires, forcing her to slowly float toward where you are supposed to light the torch. This caused the mantle draped over her winged arms to open and flow in the wind, revealing more of the feather themed ceremonial armor, the skirt being too long to see her legs.

Loud timpani music began to blare over the fact she was clearly panicking from being lifted 100 feet over the crowd, the torch searing as she decided to end the shame, launching it like a javelin toward the bowl of kindling resting on the top of the stadium, causing the flame to be lit and signaling the beginning of the 4 day tournament. "Ms. Nikos, do you have anything to say to the viewers?" The announcer standing next to where Pyrrha started, pulling up the microphone in her other hand.

"HELP ME GET D-" She stammered out before the microphone was cut out.

"Looks like we're having microphone issues, she said 'Good luck, have fun!'"

The silence in the crowd was a sharp contrast to its exhilaration just moments ago at Pyrrha's name being announced, the only sound that could be heard was the faint, profanity-laden screams of Pyrrha as she dangled in the air, demanding to be brought down. Ruby looked up at her idol, mouth agape in shock at the sight of her on wires looking like a dead bird on a fishing line swaying back and forth. Slowly spinning in a circle. "...That was on international broadcast television." Weiss said, equally stunned at this display of overproduced theatrics.

"That was the stupidest thing I've seen in my entire life." Blake responded bluntly, Weiss nodding to her. Yang broke into a fit of laughter, pointing at the four-time champion as she was being slowly lowered.

"Pyrrha's a big stupid bird!" She gasped out, wiping tears from her eyes. Ruby growled and turned to her older sister.

"Yang! Don't laugh at Pyrrha! She's our friend! ...And she's cool and one of the best fighters in Remnant! And… You're laughing too hard to listen to me aren't you?" She realized as she sunk defeated back into her chair, Yang laughing so hard her face was turning a shade of red.

"...What was that?" Jaune asked, getting shrugs from Nora and Ren. Once Pyrrha felt her feet touch the ground, she ripped the cables out and tossed the replica sword into the crowd, storming off only to trip on her skirt. She tore off the skirt and tossed it into the crowd as well, stomping away and still shouting obscenities as several men and women in Vytal Festival Tournament shirts rushed to help her out of the rest of her costume. The stunned crowd was soon greeted by the speakers playing the national anthems of the four Kingdoms, but what would normally be a gesture of great national pride and would've probably revived a dead stadium after the torch lighting debacle turned out to be an assault on the ears as all four anthems were played at the same time. The arena filled with a mixture of horns, cellos, guqin, pianos, drums and flutes.

The tunes were all different paces and volumes, turning the beautiful compositions into an ugly mess of noise that resulted in a chorus of boos and jeers. However, down below Velvet was doubled over on the platform in laughter. Her ears may have been on the verge of bleeding from the cacophony but she was too busy laughing her head off, pounding on the platform with her fist for emphasis. "Heh, not feeling nervous about screwing up anymore, are ya Velvet?" Coco asked, Velvet barely getting out a "no" between her giggle fit. Fox helped the rabbit Faunus back to her feet. As the anthems finished, Pyrrha walked out wearing a pair of red shorts, black flats and a black ANVL t-shirt, eliciting cheers from Nora as she tapped at her microphone with her palm. She made it to the drawn circle in the center, fuming as she put the mic close to her lips.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us for the… -prestigious- Vytal Festival Tournament." Pyrrha said, gritting her teeth at the word "prestigious" and getting mostly silence as she spoke. "The tournament will be four rounds with 16 teams, 4 teams to an academy. The first round will be fought with all four team members. The second round will be the trios round where three members from each team will compete with the fourth acting as a replacement in case of injury. The third will be the doubles round with two fighters to a team with one replacement. The final round will be one-on-one with the winner taking home the Vytal Festival Tournament Cup." Pyrrha announced, taking a step back to allowed the platform below her to open up and unveil the trophy.

However, things once again went wrong as Pyrrha could feel the floor beneath her start to shake. The crowd looked on in awe as Pyrrha scrambled back into the circle, making it just in time as the arena opened up around her, and from the void rose a contained pool of water with small land masses floating in the water. Pyrrha dropped her face into her hand before standing up. "Okay, so before we unveil the trophy, perhaps I should explain this island… a unique feature of Amity Colosseum is its specialized arenas designed to replicate different landscapes. As you can see, the technicians have chosen to showcase the water arena." Pyrrha explained as the arena began to sink back down, the original flat arena returning and Pyrrha taking a careful step out of the circle. The circle opened up, raising a platform with a massive gold trophy with names engraved onto it. "The winner and their team will be engraved onto the cup, immortalized by their performance over the following days. The Cup will be kept by the winning team's academy until the next Tournament." Pyrrha said, the crowd finally reacting to something positively with cries of awe at the trophy.

"All fights will have a 30 minutes time limit with the only ways to win being by knocking out your opponent, sending them out of the arena or making them physically incapable of fighting. A Meeting of Hands will begin each fight, with both sides shaking hands as a sign of honor. Anyone who attempts to injure their opponent or attack their opponent post match will be disqualified. Fights are one-on-one and when a fighter loses, their teammate will take their place until all members of a team have been eliminated. All weapons have been specially modified to prevent grievous or fatal injuries and fighters have been fitted with vital trackers to give medical staff proper warning of dangerous situations." Pyrrha said, thankful to have gotten through the rules portion of her speech without incident.

"And now to introduce two special guests who will be the voices guiding you all through the fights. Introducing first, in the role of play-by-play announcer is the Deputy Headmistress of Beacon Academy, Glynda Goodwitch!" Pyrrha announced as Glynda stepped out of the corridor to applause from the Beacon crowd, giving a polite bow. "And your color analyst, the owner of Olympus Gym, my mentor and dear friend Sebastian Ritters!" Pyrrha exclaimed with a smile on her face as a tall, bald man in a black suit and white undershirt step out from the corridor, waving to the crowd and quickly throwing a right hook to the air, putting up a thumb and grinning with full white teeth.

"Fights will be selected by computers randomly choosing two of the four Kingdoms and choosing a team from each kingdom to fight. In 20 minutes, the first two teams will be selected. All teams will have time to prepare for combat. You have 10 minutes after your team is called and if you fail to arrive within the time limit, your team will be disqualified. With all that in mind, let the games begin!" Pyrrha announced to a revived crowd who cheered loudly. Velvet clapped until Coco quickly grabbed her wrist, dragging her off with Fox and Yatsuhashi in tow.

"Come on, team! We've got 20 to get into uniform! Still not up to wearing tassels, Velvet?" Coco asked, Velvet laughing as they headed into the corridor away from the noise.

"After that opening ceremony, I can't imagine I'd look any worse than Pyrrha." She said with a smile as they headed down the hall where a man at the end of the corridor gave them a number, which they were told was the number of their cabin.

"That's the spirit! We're gonna give that crowd a show they've never seen before!" Coco said enthusiastically, Fox rolling his eyes behind her.

"I'm sure that's what the organizer of this event said." Fox said, inciting laughter from the rest of Team CFVY.


	33. Baptism by Fire

The crowd watched as the next fight of the day was selected, looking up at the four television screens above each section of the stadium as it cycled through the four Kingdom symbols. The cycle soon landed on the Vale symbol followed by a stylized shield with a flame in the center, the symbol of Mistral. "And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. The next first round match will be Beacon vs. Haven." Glynda announced over the speakers as the randomization process continued again, spinning through the teams of each school. Coco's profile soon appeared on the screen followed by three smaller profiles of her teammates. "Team CFVY of Beacon will face off against…" she said as the next team was selected. A woman with long brown hair and a blue hat which goes slightly off screen, along with a redhead, a brunette and a bearded man. "Team MJST of Haven!" Glynda finished announcing, the crowd cheering in excitement before the arena lights went out.

Spotlights at the arena floor lit up, pointing in the direction of the Beacon corridor, showing silhouettes of Team CFVY in their signature pose with guitars over a rap beat and distorted vocals playing over the speakers. The team soon stepped out, the lights flashing bright as the team stood in matching black and white. Coco was clad in a black leather jacket, black t-shirt with "Team CFVY" in big white letters, black gloves with white markings on the palms black pants and high-heeled boots. She weaved her fingers through the spaces between them and showed her linked palms to the crowd, the markings on her gloves making the shape of a crosshair. Velvet and Fox wore matching Team CFVY shirts, dark jeans and black-and-white boots with black-and-white tassels, occasionally stopping to flex their arms. "Huh, reminds me of the Gemini Brothers." Ruby said, Weiss looking at her askew.

"The what brothers?" She asked, Ruby chuckling a bit.

"They're wrestlers. They wear tassels and kick people a lot." Ruby explained, Weiss rolling her eyes.

"Of course you'd enjoy that uncivilized… Oh nevermind." Weiss said, not having the energy for another argument with Ruby.

Yatsuhashi stood out the most, having discarded his usual attire for a pair of black tights with Team CFVY running down the right leg, his massive upper body left bare and his face painted bright white with two red lines running up from the eyebrows. As they walked, Yatsuhashi raised a single arm, his fingers forming the shape of a wolf's head. His thumb, middle and ring finger were pressed together to make a mouth while the index and pinky acted as the ears. The crowd watched this all in awe on the television screens, some looking quite fearful at Yatsuhashi's scowling face illuminated by the white facepaint. The team made it to the center of the arena; Yatsuhashi held up the wolf's head once more while Fox and Velvet did another flex, aiming at Coco who showed the camera the crosshair again before the lights returned to normal. The crowd cheered in amazement at the entrance. "Team CFVY with an impressive Vytal debut. I've known Ms. Adel for two years and the one thing I've learned is that she always makes sure people know when she's arrived." Glynda said, pushing her glasses up.

"It's a good way to psyche out your opponents before the fight, like jumping out of a wrapped box at their kid's birthday party." Sebastian added, Glynda turning and looking at him in confusion.

"I'm… sorry, what was that?" She asked, putting her hand to her mic so the audience didn't hear that.

Team MJST made their way through the Haven corridor without any of the theatrics displayed by their opponents, simply walking to the center. "Fox, you scouted the teams, right? What you got on these guys?" Coco asked Fox, who pulled out a phone from his pocket and began to hit buttons on it in quick succession.

"Team MJST, while the team was only made last year, it's mostly comprised of veterans." Fox began, handing the phone over to his partner.

"That would explain why a lot of them look older than us. But about the short one over there?" Velvet asked as Coco flipped through the pictures.

"Maria Roth, she's been a student for about 2 years, aged 16. She is the newest member of the team after their last teammate, a guy named Anders was KIA. Her semblance is fire and she fights with two axes, she apparently has a temper." Coco said, reading the notes Fox had written, looking up from the phone to get a good look at Maria. The short girl had wine red hair covering one of her blue eyes with a frown on her somewhat tanned face, posing with her axes crossed in front of her.

"And the next?" Coco asked, Fox swiping the phone to the side to show the next profile, a more adult looking woman with curly black hair wearing an eyepatch.

"Jen Crowley, aged 25, 6 feet tall. She was actually a criminal who used to work for a band of mercenaries called Brothers of the Fallen. They pardoned her when her team stopped the Black Fang from assaulting a hospital in Atlas and she became a huntress. While she's only been a huntress for one year, she is a 12 year veteran. She uses a large sword, her semblance is not known." He read, looking up at the eye-patched woman. "She lost that eye to the Black Fang after dueling the Direwolf to a standstill." he said, Velvet shuddering at the mention of the Direwolf.

"P-please don't say that name…" she said, Fox nodding and turning over to the next member.

"Sorry about that, Velvet." He said, flipping to a picture of a brown haired, green eyed girl clad in white and blue, wearing a top hat. "Seren Throne, 22, is a junior detective who lost her father just this year when he was investigating the Red Lantern Family. She used to only work at Haven half time as a huntress but went entirely to being full time after her father passed away. She is an expert marksman and is the current leader of the team for her sheer strategic abilities, her semblance is Ice." Fox explained, Coco nodding and turning to the last member and sole male in the group.

"And him?" She asked, Fox flipping to last picture.

He showed an older man with long black hair and a full beard, with slight signs of his face wrinkling near his eyes. "Tristam Calder, 31. He has been a huntsman for 10 years, but doesn't wish to gain a teaching position because he wants to see his fellow hunters as equals. He is dangerously savvy and has seen nearly every trick in the book, he uses a bow and arrow and is known for his indomitable patience, his semblance is camouflage. His father was a leader of a group of bandits, but he abandoned him and joined the military. And this is his fifth Vytal Festival Tournament." Fox explained, snapping the phone shut. Coco nodded, taking in the "Calder!" chants that had broken out amongst the Mistral crowd.

"So we got a temperamental dual-wielder with fire powers. A one-eyed sword fighter and two marksmen. One ice, one camo. The biggest challenge here is the experience they bring so I say we take out the rookie first." She said, going silent as Team MJST stepped into the circle, the three veterans performing a salute while Maria stood still. Crowley stepped on Maria's foot, causing her to yelp in pain.

"Salute, you idiot." Crowley muttered, Maria grumbling and joining in the salute as Coco walked over to Seren, offering a hand.

"Best of luck to your team.." Seren said politely, shaking Coco's hand as the younger huntress put up her shades with her free hand.

"Thanks, try not to feel too bad when the young blood takes this one." Coco said cockily, Seren pulling her hand away and giving a bow of the head rather than responding to that snipe.

"Heh, bit more scarred than most rookies we run into, aren't ya, kid?" Tristam noted as he shook Fox's hand.

"I've got a lot of experience to go with those scars, so don't think I'll go down easily." Fox said, Coco giving off a toothy grin.

"Awww yeah! Fox is getting in the zone! I love it when you're in the zone…" Coco said as Yatsuhashi shook Crowley's hand.

"Height can take you a lotta places, but not with someone who wrestles bears in her offtime." Crowley said with a smirk.

"It'll be an honor to fight you in a test of strength." Yatsu said, bowing politely. Velvet's efforts to shake hands with Maria proved difficult. It was like dealing with a grumpier Ruby.

"G-good luck to y-you and your team…" Velvet stammered out. Maria had her black, metal-covered arms crossed in front of her long black jacket.

"You don't really sound like you're cut out for this, bunny girl. If we're going to beat the hell out of each other, at least act like you're interested." Maria said bluntly, Velvet pulling her hand away nervously and rubbing the back of her head with a laugh.

"W-well, it's just a bit of f-friendly competition, right?" She said, Maria staring at her with glazed over eyes.

"Keep telling yourself that. Just don't complain if you end up losing a few teeth on the way." Maria shot back as an official entered the field, checking the weapons.

"Fox Alistair and Maria Roth are the first two on the field." He stated, grabbing Maria's twin axes currently holstered to her waist. Normally, each one would have a serrated edge, but it was dulled enough to not be razor sharp. Fox's arm blades were at a similar dullness, the official began to pat down Maria first.

"This is a fair fight, any outside tampering or hidden weapons are grounds for disqualification." He stated, Maria huffing as this guy patted pretty much everywhere he thought she was hiding something.

"Buy me a drink first, jeeze…" Maria said, getting a slap upside the head from Crowley in response. Fox was next, neither of them had brought anything that wasn't listed beforehand.

"All 6 other participants will wait on the edge of the arena." He turned to the two as their teams slowly began to back away. "Fight starts at the buzzer." He said, backing off just far enough to oversee the events without getting injured. The ground surrounding Fox and Maria began to shake slightly as the floor pulled back and out came a forest platform covered in several large oak trees. The buzzer soon sounded and the fight began.

"And the fight begins! Mr. Ritters, you're known for training fighters and have a history with Ms. Roth, what are your thoughts on the two in the arena right now?" Glynda asked over the loudspeaker as the two brandished their weapons at each other.

"While Maria lacks in technical prowess, her unbridled fury makes her one of my best students. She's like a weasel." Ritters said in response, Maria turning and looking up at the speaker in confusion.

"What the hell are you on abou-" Maria was cut off by Fox dashing and smashing her upside the face with his blade, sending her into a pirouette.

"Eyes forward, Redhead." Fox commented as he turned to face her again, as Maria grit her teeth and pulled out both of her axes, holding them with a reverse grip along her forearms.

Maria suddenly blitzed into a full speed dash, leaping into the air with blinding speed and swinging both of her blades toward him, only to be blocked by the clanging of Fox's own gauntlet blades, landing in a shower of sparks as the four blades clashed. Fox had a slight strength advantage, but Maria bent forward for leverage. "Fast." he said with a smirk on his face, which Maria responded by breaking the clash and leaping up to smash her head into his chin. This caught him completely off, causing him to stumble backward and land on his back. Maria chased him, leaping with one leg onto his shoulder and smashing her knee into his head. This caused them to spill onto the grass, crashing in a heap.

"And that's why I like Maria. Even when she is using a weapon, she'll use EVERYTHING on her as a weapon anyway. Her arms, legs, head, teeth, even her ears!" Ritters said, Glynda blinking and pushing up her glasses.

"...Ears?" She said, unaware she was still on mic.

"I thought this was going to be a fair fight." Fox complained, wiping the blood off his split lip as he stood back up, Maria rolled onto her back and sprung back onto her feet.

"Anything goes in a real fight." Maria said spinning her blades in her fingers as she went in for another round of strikes, leaping in low and smashing the blade of her dulled axe into his ribs, he tried to kick her out of the way, but she rolled behind him.

"Where is sh-" He turned around and was suddenly met with a kick to the head. He fell back onto his knees as Maria slowly began to back up, letting him stand again. "Okay, that's enough waiting around." he said, cracking his neck and leaping into the air to attack the redhead, she dodged back, but he rolled onto the ground and slashed his blade against the back of her leg, her knee buckling and sending her kneeling before he stood up behind her, kicking her in the back of the head and sending her face first into the dirt, Maria growling out of pain.

Maria was about to get up, when he grabbed her by the arm, locking it to his shoulder and repeatedly kneeing her in the face half a dozen times, before smashing his gauntlet blade into her neck, tossing her away from him and smashing her into a nearby tree thanks to an aura enhanced throw. "Ow." Maria replied in deadpan as she slid to the ground, grabbing the bark of the tree and pulling herself back up, she glances at him when she noticed her nose was bleeding. "Okay, now you've pissed me off- Wait.. Where'd you go?" She asked, holding her nose and looking through the trees. She suddenly felt a blow to her back, stumbling slightly and catching herself on the ground. She grabbed an axe and threw it, hitting one of the trees nearby. "Damn it…" Maria muttered before being kicked in the ribcage, causing her to sputter and fall on her back, before looking around to see if she could find the orange clad fighter.

"You said anything goes in a fight, right? See if you can find me." He said as he swept her legs, leaping back into the trees. Maria grabbed her axe, tossing it again and missing, hitting another tree.

"Agh… gotta climb a tree…I hate trees!" Maria exclaimed, barely able to hear Crowley's call of "Suck it up, Roth!" over the roar of the crowd.

Maria jumped against a nearby tree, bouncing off and onto another tree, nearly getting attacked by Fox as she managed to catch her axe, tugging at it and managing to get it out, bouncing off the tree and heading for the other axe. She buried the axe she was holding into the trees to hold herself, timing her jumps better though Fox was now catching her and hit her in the back before jumping back into the trees. "Argh! Damn it! I hate trees! I hate ninjas! I hate this tournament!" Maria shouted grabbing the first axe from the tree, pressing off the trunk and slamming it behind her, only to find she hit nothing but air yet again. "Now for the other one." She darted her eyes around, finding the other one much lower on a tree roughly 50 feet away. She tucked her head, making a full speed run to the other one, grabbing it and swinging her second hand around and feeling a sudden spark coming from the axe, she managed to block a hit. But by the time she could turn around to see, he was gone again.

"Bastard… Hiding in the trees like some kind of… Person who hides in trees. Let's see how you like it when I trap you like a rat." She said, spinning her blades as her eyes began to glow, warm embers coming from her breath as her axes were lit ablaze. She slammed an axe into the tree beside her, flames quickly causing it to go up in flames. "I'LL BURN DOWN THIS WHOLE DAMN FOREST UNLESS YOU FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN, YOU COWARD!" Maria shouted into the air, chopping at another tree and setting it ablaze, exhaling embers from her breath as she charged deeper into the forest.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that Maria has activated her semblance, dubbed Dragonbreath by her team and… is… is she burning down the Forest Stage?" Glynda asked, wide-eyed while Sebastian cackled maniacally next to her.

"Not the first time the weasel's burnt it all down! Love it!" He said, still laughing as Maria shouted "STOP CALLING ME WEASEL!" between bursts of fire.

" _This is getting dangerous…_ " Fox thought to himself, keeping to his plan to stay in the trees for now, but as each one became engulfed in flames, the smoke above the ground began to cloud his eyes and his lungs as long as he stayed inside. "Damn it." he said, dropping from the limb he was standing on. Maria slowly turned toward him, launching a blast of fire straight into the air before she returned to normal, glaring at him through the falling embers.

"DRAMATIC EFFECT!" Ritters shouted over the loudspeaker. "GET THE REPLAY ON THAT!" He called, Glynda pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Why did I take this job?" She muttered as Fox hit the ground, the two fighters staring each other down. Maria looked to have lit all the trees on fire surrounding them, leaving them a space of open grass where they can fight.

"No more running, Fox." she said, Fox simply nodded as the two circled each other, waiting for their next. Velvet covered her head with her hood.

"I can't look! T-tell me when it's over!" Velvet said, looking down at the floor as Coco watched with a wide grin, pumping her fist in the air.

"Yeah! Fire and fury! I am sooooo -hyped-! Kick her ass, Fox!" Coco screamed out, Fox hearing her voice through the roaring and crackling flames.

"Will do." He said without breaking his gaze on Maria.

"No more talking, let's do this." Maria said through her teeth before the two sprinted at each other meeting in the center and beginning to do a skilled trade of blows, each one trying to dodge more blows than the other. Fox got the advantage, slashing at her chest and face hard enough to actually cut just above one of her eyes, blood pouring into it and rendering her partially blinded. Maria responded in kind, smashing him in the shoulder with an axe that sent him sliding back several feet. Maria did a handspring backward, charging at him again and the two of them trading blows, Maria getting hit in the throat just as she struck Fox in the chest. Maria grabbed her throat, dropping one of her axes as she sputtered out some blood. She glanced up at the big screen in the arena, noticing she was just above the threshold of being eliminated.

She glared at him pointing the only blade she was holding at him before launching herself toward him at full speed, he obliged and did the same, swinging blades at each others faces. Their hits both collided, sending blood into the air as they both spill to the ground, rolling onto each others backs facing the grass as the forest continued to burn. Maria slammed her axe into the ground, slowly pushing herself back onto her feet first. "No way…" Jaune muttered as he heard the buzzer.

"Fox Alistair has been eliminated." An announcer stated as Fox slowly clambered back onto his feet.

"An impressive first fight, but now we may not be able to fight in the Forest Stage until we extinguish the flames." Glynda said with concern in her voice. Maria swung her arm, as all the flames were extinguished with a outward puff of smoke, leaving half the forest stage now burned to a crisp.

"I forgot, she can also put out fires too!" Ritters exclaimed, then the sound of a thud as Glynda smacked her head into the desk.

Fox slowly walked to Maria, who picked up her weapons and placed them in their holsters. Maria suddenly extended a hand to him. "...That win was pure luck." Maria started, Fox just looking a bit hazy from being hit in the head so hard. "If I hit you even an inch in any other spot, you would've took that hit and finished me off no problem… I hit it completely out of chance You're pretty good, Fox." She said, he slowly reached out so they could shake hands. "...BUT I STILL WON! WOOOOOO!" She shouted in the air, releasing the handshake and raising her hands in the air, almost passing out as she fell onto her back..

"...Okay then." Fox said, slowly turning away from her and limping back off the stage.

The screen showed the shuffling profiles of the remaining members of Team CFVY landing on Velvet. "Fight's over, Velvet. Get Cross-Hare ready!" Coco said, Velvet pulling up her hood and looking, going pale at the sight of a bloody Maria waiting in the ashes of the burnt down Forest Stage.

"Oh no! Fox! FOX!" She cried out, eyes wide and worried that had burned alive in the forest.

"Yes?" He asked, standing next to her with bandages over his wounds. Velvet let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, you're fine." She added,turning back to the arena, fear gripping her again as Maria stood there, covered in blood and ash.

However, there was no call from the announce for Velvet to enter the match. Instead, medical personnel headed onto the arena, dabbing at the blood coming from Maria's forehead. "Check her armband." One official stated, the medic grabbing her arm and turning her wrist up to check the screen. "She's deep in the red, I'm not sure continuing would be safe." Hh replied, Maria shaking her head.

"I'm still good to fight. Just need a few stitches and I can go!" Maria objected, coughing up blood onto her sleeve.

"She's bleeding from the trachea, she can't be cleared for this next fight." The medic stated, reading from Maria's armband. The referee was alerted and soon the announcement came from the speakers.

"Due to grievous injury, Maria Roth cannot continue fighting, leaving the score at 3-3." The speakers declared as the medics got Maria onto a stretcher, wheeling her off while she yelled at them to let her fight. the field clearing as the burned down Forest Stage was dropped down. Velvet watched the screen flip through members of Team MJST, landing on her next opponent.

"When we return, our next fight will be… Velvet Scarlatina vs. Tristam Calder!" Glynda announced over the speaker as a second Forest Stage lifted up, replacing the oak trees with a series of frozen, snow-tipped spruce trees, a cold air blowing through the air. Velvet shivered, looking at the blinding white snow as Tristam stepped out, barely visible on the stadium in his white cloak. He pushed the sides of the hooded cloak to reveal white leather armor and a bow and quiver of arrows strapped to his back, along with a belt full of throwing knives and a satchel hanging on one of his sides. He had long black hair, a full beard and his face showed slight signs of aging and an extremely deep voice.

"A marksman's duel, interesting." He said, rubbing his bearded chin as he looked up and down at her, Velvet gulped softly, pulling her silver, engraved crossbow and resting it on her side. She made the slow walk down to the arena, pulling her hood over her head.

"I can do this… I c-can do this…" she said nervously as she stepped into the snow.


	34. Hunt

Velvet took a deep breath, watching as the mist escaped from her mouth. She held a shaking hand out, hovering it over her crossbow. Tristam stood calmly, his mouth suppressing a smile as the buzzer went off. Velvet made a running leap deep into the forest, grabbing her crossbow and loading it as she ran. She kept her ears perked, listening for the sound of passing arrows but only hearing the wind howl and the crowd cheering. "And Velvet has made her way in, getting the distance advantage early on. In a sniper's duel such as this one, it's better to keep your distance than try to go charging in and with her speed and adept hearing, Ms. Scarlatina has plenty going for her." Glynda said, Ritters nodding.

"All true, but we can't forget about the intangibles that go into a fight like this; Experience and luck. Calder's got a decade with that bow and while Velvet's only got a year as a Huntress, she's also got two feet. That's like a double rabbit's foot worth of luck!" Mr. Ritters said, the Deputy Headmistress of Beacon glaring at her commentary partner.

Velvet looked around into the blinding white, seeing nothing but a few trees, quickly hiding behind one. "Okay… nothing so far… I think I'm safe for now, but I can't delay the fight. Have to take out Calder quick." Velvet said, turning her head. Within seconds she moved back behind the tree as an arrow shot past her head, landing in a tree just in front of her. She sighed in relief, gently looking around the trunk of the tree if she could see or hear him through the snow and trees, but she saw nothing. "I need to find him if I want to fight him…" She spoke softly to herself as she suddenly heard a hissing noise behind her. She looked back, the arrow in the tree had a fire Dust Crystal lodged to the arrow with a fuse. "An explosive!?" Velvet exclaimed, running from the tree quickly, dodging more arrows as she looked for cover. The arrow lodged to the tree exploded seconds after she moved out of the way, sending leaves, snow and splinters into the air as the tree was destroyed. She slipped out, firing off rubberized bolts from her crossbow, pulling back after a few shots.

"Keeping me on my feet isn't helping me think." She said as she took cover behind a snow covered rock. "Hello." He said from an oddly close distance, she looked up at the tree she was underneath, as he slowly became visible from an translucent shroud, his bow pointed straight toward her. "Ahhh!" She shouted, leaping over the rock and landing on her back as he leapt into the air, flipping over her as she shot back up at him, striking each other with arrows and bolts. He was hit in the shoulder, she was hit in the stomach as he landed, rolling into a bush. "R-right… he can turn invisible…" the rabbit girl said, looking over her body to check for any damage, reading her vital tracker. She turned and looked, trying to spot any movement.

"Wait, how has the snow not melted. This arena's warm." Ruby asked.

"The floor probably has Dust Amplifiers. Ice Dust underneath the floor surface is amplified and spreads cold energy throughout the stage, allowing the snow to retain its shape. It's a special device created by Schnee Dust for commercial heated floors." Weiss explained, Ruby taking it all in.

"That's pretty cool." Ruby said, Weiss covering her mouth with her hand.

"Ohohhohoho~" she laughed, Ruby covering her ears.

"Stop that…" Ruby muttered, turning to watch Velvet dodge another arrow.

She ran through the forest, listening for any signs of movement before stopping, panting and shivering. The chilling wind was finally starting to catch up to her as she huddled up closely, wrapping her arms around her body in the hopes of warming herself up. As the Beacon student felt her teeth chatter, a sudden warmth began to waft in underneath her. "Ah… much better…" she said, uncurling her body and letting her hands touch the soft, warm dirt. Her eyes widened as she remembered that she was supposed to be in a snowy forest and an untouched patch of dirt was out of place. She looked down, seeing the ground glow bright red and start to hiss. "Mine!" She shouted, leaping away as the explosive discharged, sending hot earth into the air behind her. She weaved through more mines, setting off more explosives around her as she made it to a nearby rock, jumping behind it and putting an ear out.

She heard snow crunched underfoot as the explosions were dying down. Tristam had heard the explosions and was looking for her. She held her breath, seeing another fire arrow sail over her head and bury itself into a nearby snowbank, melting away the snow. Velvet rooted around in a pouch tied to her belt, pulling out a small teal crystal and loading it into her crossbow and listening for the pull of Tristam's bow. As soon as she heard the bow twang, she popped up and fired her crystal, hitting the fire crystal that tipped the arrow. The two Dust crystals met, creating a haze of steam around the rock that allowed Velvet to run deeper into the forest.

As she ran, she soon felt something clamp down on her ankle, Velvet tripping and landing in the snow. Her crossbow flew out of her hands, landing in the snow. Velvet started to pant rapidly, eyes darting around the forest to see if Tristram had found her before looking down at her leg, seeing a circular steel tap clamped around her ankle. She grabbed at the trap, desperately prying at it. She soon made an opening, wedging the heel of her foot into gap, pushing as hard as she could and getting the trap open. She slowly got up, moving gingerly on her wounded foot and grabbing her crossbow. "Okay… come on, Velvet… get it together…." She mumbled to herself, looking around and seeing trees and white. She heard the crowd cheering, the shutter of cameras taking pictures of the Snow Stage. "Hrm… that's it!" The Beacon student said, snapping her fingers and reaching back into her Dust pouch, pulling out several light yellow crystals. She looked over her crossbow for fall damage, sighing in relief to see it was just covered in a bit of wet snow and pulling some rope out of her bag.

Tristam headed deep into the forest, looking for the trapped Velvet. He heard the sound of one of his traps go off. He scanned the area, seeing the open trap in the snow. "Hrm… she's gotten out.. She can't have gone far…" he said, moving forward and listening for her breath. As he walked, he heard a snap underneath him, turning to see a bolt fire from Velvet's crossbow. He ducked, watching the bolt zip by him and hit a nearby tree, smashing the light crystal on it and creating flash of light. Without even a second to register what happened, more light crystals exploded in the surrounding trees, set off by the first burst of light. The entire arena was soon bathed in a bright flash of light, rendering Calder and several in the stands blind.

"An impressive strategy by Ms. Scarletina… or it would be IF I COULD SEE ANYTHING!" Glynda said,taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes. Coco laughed heartily, looking at the blinded viewers around her.

"And that's why I have the sunglasses!" She said, smiling and cheering Velvet As the light cleared, Tristam stumbled his way to a nearby tree, the vision returning to his eyes. Once his vision returned Calder was hit by a flash of purple energy, feeling a burning pain in his chest before his limbs went numb. With little time for him to react, Velvet stuck Tristam in the head with the butt of her crossbow, knocking him out against the tree.

"An electrifying knockout by the young huntress! She had him beat in a flash!" Ritters shouted, Glynda still working on getting her vision back.

"Anh... I'd smack you for those puns, but I think she rendered me blind…can we take 15 minutes?" she asked as the crowd went wild, cheering for Velvet as she limped off the stage towards her corridor.

"Hey kid, you just gonna walk off and not shake my hand?" Tristam asked from behind her. Velvet let out a small jump, turning around to see Tristam walk over to her, holding out his hand. Velvet smiled, shaking his hand. "I've been in the game for over ten years and I thought I'd seen it all, but that little gambit's one I didn't see coming. You're gonna be a great Huntress, Velvet. Just gonna need a few more scars on ya." He said patting an arm on her shoulder, Velvet chuckling somewhat nervously.

"T-thank you, Mr. Calder." She replied, letting go of his hand and walking toward her corridor, seeing her team waiting for her.

"Great sniper duel, Velvet! Brought a smile to my heart, it did. Fox, check her ankle." Coco said, Fox kneeling down and gently grabbing Velvet's right ankle, applying careful pressure.

"Hrm, nothing looks to be broken. Just a minor sprain. She'll probably make the next fight but she'll need to move carefully on that foot so as not to risk further damage." Fox assessed, Coco nodding.

"Right, but you gotta make sure you're subtle, Velvet. You can't let your opponent gauge a weakness on you. They see that you're on a bad ankle and they'll go right for it." Coco added. Velvet nodded, wincing a bit as Fox finished inspecting her ankle. "Now, let's get some food! Running around in the snow must've worked you up an appetite something fierce!'" Coco said, grabbing Velvet by the hand and taking her down the corridor toward the outside.

Once outside, Team CFVY walked through the fairgrounds, looking around to see what there was to eat. Velvet soon spotted Team ANVL sitting at a food stall, eating and chatting away. "Oh! Hey! ANVL!" Velvet said, walking over her team in tow.

"-I don't care how much they offer me, they're gonna have to get someone else to be the Maiden next tournament. Stupidest thing I've ever done…" Pyrrha said to Jaune, spotting Team CFVY coming close, Velvet giving them a wave which Pyrrha returned. "Looks like we've got company, guys." Pyrrha said, Jaune turning his head, Nora pulling herself from the massive plate of meats she was tearing through and Ren looking up from his more modest meal. Team CFVY sat themselves down, grabbing some menus from a nearby dispenser.

"Hey guys. Great fighting so far. Though maybe a few less flashes…" Jaune said, Velvet rubbing the back of her head and chuckling nervously.

"Eheheheheh… sorry…" she said as Coco looked over the menu.

"Specials… specials… ooh, Firepot Special. What's that?" Coco asked.

"Oh! It's pretty delicious. The chef cooks a whole bunch of meat, vegetables and spices. He then serves them in a little pot. It's just like the stew Colette used to make." Jaune explained, biting into another spoonful.

"Colette… that's the one that lives in… Mistral?" Velvet said, Jaune shaking his head.

"Vacuo, actually. Yeah, she was my favorite sister… until she started training with Cassandra Troy." he explained, Fox shuddering slightly.

"Whoa, not a lot that shakes Fox like that." Coco said.

"The true definition of fear is in her kitchen, not the battlefield." Fox stated, sipping his glass of iced tea.

"He's not wrong. Colette used to be a sweet girl. She loved cooking and would usually make the family treats during holidays and made my favorite cookies whenever I was feeling down. Then she made a tour around the Four Kingdoms. It was in Vacuo that Colette met Troy and when she came back, she was a nightmare. She'd pull a knife on anyone if they touched anything she worked on. She nearly got me in the ear once. Nowadays she spends her time in Vacuo, so she's been a lot easier to talk to. Whenever she comes around for holidays, she takes the kitchen and everyone stays out." Jaune said.

"Alright then. One Firepot Special then." Coco said, putting down her menu.

"Make that two." Fox said, Coco turning and smirking at him.

"Oh ho ho... another round of Iron Stomach?" Coco said, pushing up her shades.

"Loser pays for lunch." Fox replied, Yatsuhashi ordering a cooked salmon dish.

"I'll have a salad with extra lettuce." Velvet said, handing in her menu.

"Uh… Velvet, not to be rude but isn't that a bit… stereotypical?" Jaune asked, Velvet blinking in confusion.

"Stereoty- Oh! Right! Well, while Fauni are omnivorous, they tend to have certain biological preferences to food. So, say you were a lion Faunus. You'd be inclined towards eating meat." She explained.

"So that means Nora might be a lion Faunus." Ren said, lightly poking at his meal with a fork.

"...Did Ren just make a joke?" Jaune asked, staring wide eyed at him, Pyrrha's jaw agape.

"Well, she doesn't have the scent of a Faunus, but she certainly has the ferocity down." Velvet said, Jaune looking askew at her.

"...Why are you smelling Nora?" Jaune asked.

"Ack! N-no! It's not like that!" Velvet said, shaking her head frantically and turning red. "Fauni are able to identify each other through scent, so I can tell if someone's a Faunus within seconds of meeting them." She explained as Team CFVY's meals arrived. Coco and Fox took the lids of their Firepot Specials, grabbing their spoons and eating. The two devoured their meal within seconds, Coco's pot hitting the table first.

"Aha! The Queen of Iron Stomach reigns once more!" Coco exclaimed, wiping her mouth of any remnants of her food, Fox grumbling and pouring Lien out of his pouch.

"Hey, Yatsu! You're just gonna have that guppy to eat?" Nora shouted from across the table, Yatsuhashi chuckling as he cut into his salmon.

"Well, I'm not exactly a growing boy anymore. A quick bit of lunch will suffice. I must admit, I didn't think someone your size could eat that much." Yatsuhashi replied, Nora downing another bite of meat.

"Hah! I may be a bit small for a Valkyrie, but I still have the stomach of one!" Nora said with her usual bravado.

"I see. So, where are you from?" Yatsuhashi asked, Nora grinning from ear to ear.

"Ren! We must tell Tale of the Valkyrie clan! Ready the banner!" Nora declared, Ren reaching into Nora's bag and pulling out a massive dark green banner, unraveling it and sticking it into the ground while Nora held up her hammer.

"The story of the Valkyrie Clan begins with Freya of Valkyrie, also known as Freya the Wolfborn! Freya was abandoned in the woods when she was but a babe, where a pack of wolves came upon her. The wolves, rather than eat the child, carried her away and raised her as one of their own!" Nora began, pointing to a picture of a child in swaddling clothes surrounded by several black wolves. "She ate with them, hunted with them and soon became their leader. Within time, she returned to the human world and joined House Valkyrie of the Kingdom of Mantle. She became a soldier and battled mightily, forging the great warhammer Magnhild!" She continued, directing to the familiar image of a hammer wrapped in lightning that was said to be the Valkyrie family crest.

"However, soon came the Fall of Mantle. The Kingdom, though a great power in the Northern Lands, had soon been overcome by the might of Atlas and their GUNS AND CANNONS and maybe a trebuchet." Nora said in a mutter, waving her hand over an image of a castle being attacked by soldiers.

"Historically, Atlas has been known for being technologically advanced thanks in part to their Royal Family being heavily involved in military endeavors. Their desire for conquest drove them to create some of the earliest machines of war." Ren explained as Nora continued to list what she saw in the tapestry.

"And missiles! Well… maybe not missiles but there were definitely cannons! It's sorta like missiles if they were dumb. They're right there!" Nora continued, pointing at what she assumed was a cannonball. "Now then! Upon the fall of Mantle, many of House Valkyrie had been gathered to be executed as they were the Royal Treasury and Mantle became very greedy. The Atlesian soldiers make the mistake of only sending two men to claim Freya and soon, she had escaped, taking a gathering of Mantle's remaining and forged what would become known as the Valkyrie Clan! And since then they have survived like she had those many years ago as a Wolfborn! Always moving, always hungry, always fighting! Always barking at people who have food!" Nora said proudly, pointing to the final image of Freya. The assembled teams clapped in awe before Fox suddenly spoke up, looking to his watch.

"Ah crap! Team, we've gotta get going! We've got five minutes to get back to the stadium or we'll be cut from the first round!" He exclaimed, Coco immediately standing up from her seat.

"Right! Let's move out, CFVY!" She shouted, running off with Fox and Yatsuhashi in tow. Velvet quickly waved to team JNPR as she headed off.

"Bye guys! It was great to talk!" She said as she went to catch up with the rest of her team.

They managed to make it back to the arena at the last second, Velvet walking back into the frozen forest to await her next opponent. In spite of the bitter wind biting at her with each step, she felt an oddly comforting warmth as she made it back into the center. The pain in her ankle was still there, but she could walk more easily than stand. Velvet soon made it to the center, turning her eyes to the screen as everyone else did in the arena to watch the final two members of Team MJST cycle through. "And the next fight from Team MJST is…" Glynda said with a note of anticipation in her voice. The shuffling soon ended, landing on the eyepatch-clad woman, the warmth fading from Velvet quickly as Glynda announced the competitor's name.

"JEN CROWLEY!"


	35. Slaying the Beast

Crowley made her way through the snow to the center of the arena, brushing flakes off her coat as she met Velvet in the middle. "Good match with Calder, kid. But you aren't gonna be so lucky this time." Crowley said, Velvet letting out an "Eep!" As the buzzer sounded, Velvet breaking into a stilted run into the forest, moving gingerly on her sprained ankle as she made it into the trees. "Okay, she's only got a sword. I just gotta wait for her to pop out and hit her with a shot. A few lightning rounds should be enough to put her out." Velvet said, grabbing a small purple crystal and loading into her crossbow. Once the crystal was loaded, she looked around her belt, grabbing an attachable scope and working to click it onto Crosshare when she heard the crowd let out a collective gasp. Velvet looked around to see a shadow moving across the stadium, quickly firing a round of lightning dust and hitting nothing.

"Okay, so Crowley can't turn invisible. But what's that sha-" Velvet said, looking up and dropping her jaw at the sight of a whole tree flying across the sky, coming down closer and closer to the Beacon student. "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" She shouted, quickly running as far as she could away from the airborne tree. The tree slammed into more trees, knocking them over. "WAS THAT A WHOLE TREE?!" Velvet exclaimed, frantically looking for cover.

"Awww yeah! Throwin' trees to destroy any surrounding cover! That's how you combat a sniper! Brilliant strategy by Crowley!" Ritters exclaimed, Glynda staring in shock.

"That wasn't strategy! She threw a tree!" Glynda exclaimed as the screen switched to Crowley uprooting another tree with ease.

"What's with this team and destroying trees?!" Jaune asked, equally baffled as another spruce arced across the field, crashing into the forest. Velvet dashed away from the timbering trees, breaking out into the open snow. She kept running and running, making it behind a tree that hadn't been thrown or knocked over like bowling pins, taking in deep breaths.

"Okay... this is bad… this is really bad… gotta think fast. I still have the range advantage." Velvet said, loading another lightning crystal into her crossbow, turning to look for Crowley. "Where is she… where is she?" She muttered, looking around through the scope. The rabbit Faunus soon got Crowley in her sight, quickly firing a shot which struck her square in the chest, Crowley dropping into the snow.

"Got her!" Velvet said joyfully, running towards the fallen Huntress, who was now lying in the snow, eyes glazed over and body twitching slightly. She slowly got onto one knee, trying to find the bolt that hit her only to notice that it didn't even pierce her armor, it only left a dent where it hit the brass colored gear. "Wh-wha-" Velvet stuttered out before Crowley's eyes refocused, her hand clasping around her throat, Crowley climbing back onto her feet as her taller frame loomed over her, lifting her onto her tiptoes while holding her by the throat.

"If something like that can trick you, you have a long way to go…" Crowley said, bending down to the ground and dragging Velvet with her, the Beacon student barely struggling before she was sent high up into the air, Crowley leaving a divot in the dirt as she leapt into the air, coming to a stop at the treetops.

The crowd looked up in horror as the two Huntresses began their descent, falling diagonally through the air. Within seconds, Crowley and Velvet hit the snow-covered ground, sliding along until the snow piled up and brought them to a crawl. The screen showed a bar underneath Velvet's profile go from green to red within seconds. A graphic and announcement of "KO!" Soon appeared, the crowd going quiet. Crowley looked up the screen before looking down at the unconscious Velvet. "And Ms. Crowley has tied things up for Team MJST with a quick knock-out victory!" Glynda declared, Jaune staring in shock, only about to let out a strained cry of "Ahhhhhhhh!" as medics wheeled out a stretcher, running onto the field and putting Velvet onto it.

"She should be fine, I used the snow to slow our momentum. Despite what you think, I'm not a barbarian..." Crowley said as Velvet was carried out. The selection process resumed, landing on Yatsuhashi.

"And Yatsuhashi Daichi will be taking on Ms. Crowley. As we can tell from the previous fight, Crowley's semblance is her strength so this will be an interesting clash of powerhouses here. What are your thoughts on this match-up, Sebastian?" Glynda said, turning to Ritters.

"Before this, I would've given it to the seven foot fella, but I just saw a girl get chokeslammed from 30 feet in the air… so I think Crowley's gonna take this one." He said, Glynda nodding in agreement. Crowley walked into the center platform for a stare down, the devastated Snow biome being sent away. The biome selector popped up next, revealing it to be a mesa, red sand and tall rocks surrounding the center which was mostly flat barring a cactus or two. "How about a tale of the tape for our fans at home?" Ritters asked Glynda, who began to research the two of them.

"Crowley stands at 6 foot 2 and fights with a long sword, her experience and strength are the paramount advantages she holds in combat, and while Yatsuhashi might be just as strong as Crowley and stands at roughly 7 feet tall, his lack of ruthlessness will put him on the back foot." She read over as Yatsuhashi slowly pulled the claymore strapped to his back. Crowley drew her long Nodachi from the sheathe on her hip.

"Begin!" The announcer shouted over the speaker as they instantly clashed blades with enough force to cause a howling gale to hit the crowd. "They clashed so hard wind happened! Coooool!" Coco shouted with excitement as the two broke away from each other, kicking up red dust as Yatsuhashi grit his teeth, leaping into the air and smashing his blade into the ground where he thought Crowley was, but he missed. Crowley slowly slid back, using her blade as a brake, the rocks kicking up sparks before stopping, seeing Yatsuhashi charge after her again, and not sure she could continue blocking without leaving her blade intact, she charged after him, smashing the hilt of her blade into the back of his head, slamming him into the dirt.

"It's like a bullfight!" Ruby shouted in the crowd as she watched Jen and Yatsuhashi clashing blades so fierce that it kicked up more dust and upheaved even more rock. Crowley ducked another shot, running and leaping up the rocks to balance herself on a mesa.

"Not bad, kiddo. Let's see how you can handle this." Crowley said, slowly spinning her blade to brush the dust off of her with a gust of wind before holding her sword over her head. Yatsuhashi slowly raised one hand, and gestured her forward.

"Bring it." Yatsu said with a grin, Crowley bending down and leaping into the air so high that the rock beneath her crumbled to dust, sending herself 100 feet into the air.

"DEATH DEALER!" Crowley shouted, smashing her blade into his with all of her strength, causing an explosion of rock and dust to fly into the air, only the force field stopping a rogue boulder to crash into the audience. The crowd, not sure what's going on in all of the dust, looked up at the screen, both of them went from green to orange.

"That escalated… quite a bit." Glynda said, adjusting her collar nervously as Mr. Ritters just began to chuckle loudly.

"Can't be a tournament without explosions! BOOOOM!" He said, raising his hands into the air and leaning back until his chair fell back, causing him to spill onto the floor. "Still okay!" he cried out as he tried to get back into his seat and watch the action.

"That was impressive…" Yatsuhashi said panting as he wiped the blood over one of his eyes, climbing back to his feet and watching as the dust fell back to the ground, he was standing in a 30 foot wide crater about 6 feet deep at the center. "Honestly I have no idea how I lived through that." he added, Crowley slowly getting up and looked at her right shoulder, which was uselessly swinging side to side from her shoulder.

"I overdid it." Crowley muttered to herself, trying to pop her shoulder back into its socket. "You blocked in the right place, it completely destroyed my shoulder." she growled out, getting onto her knees and pulling off her armor, tearing the fabric of one of her sleeves off and wrapping it around her shoulder to keep it in place.

"You okay? We can stop if you want." Yatsuhashi asked out of concern, Crowley looking over to the side to see the hilt of her sword with no blade.

"Nah, I'm good…" Crowley shot back, grabbing the fabric with her teeth and tightening it. She jumped straight into the crater with her working arm reared back for a punch, Yatsuhashi blocking it with his arm and creating a shockwave that the audience reacted to like a truck passing by in comparison to the last attack.

The two stood in the crater, charging straight at each other and trading blows. Yatsuhashi would hit a punch, sending Jen into the rock wall. She pulled herself off, leaping right back in and punching Yatsuhashi with her working arm, sending him into a wall in return. The blows went back and forth, Ritters watching and giving it serious fight analysis. "In my opinion, one of them needs to go for a good liver shot to shut down their opponent, it opens up their chin for a knockout blow." he said, Glynda staring at him.

"Are you serious? Have you seen the hits they've been throwing?! If they go for the liver, their organs will liquefy!" Glynda said, shocked at the level of destruction in front of her. Yatsuhashi slowly peeled himself off the cracking wall, going for a shot when his legs gave out, the seven foot student hitting the ground with a thud. The screen flashed another "KO!" the crowd still in awe before they started cheering.

"That woman's a monster…" Jaune said in shock as the medics were roped down in the crater to check on Crowley's arm and stretcher out the unconscious Yatsu.

"Yeah, and I thought I was strong...:" Yang said in agreement with Jaune, Coco chuckling and standing up.

"I can take her…" she said, Fox staring at her in shock.

"No way. She's destroyed two stages with her HANDS. She's knocked out half of our team. You really think you can take her? Coco, I know you don't listen to me, but this is not a game! She's a demon or something." Fox said, putting a hand on Coco's shoulder.

"And I slay demons for a living. Outta the way." Coco replied, shrugging off her partner's hand and heading from the arena. She looked over her guns, her massive Gatling gun strapped to her back with her shotgun, pistols holstered at each side and a rifle on the back end of her belt. "Okay, this is your big moment, Coco. A packed stadium with hundreds, thousands of screaming fans. The blazing heat of a simulated sun. An unstoppable team-killing beast and you're the last one standing. Time to be a hero." She said, stopping at the entrance and reaching into her pocket, feeling around to find it empty. "Oh come on! Don't tell me I lost them! Just when I needed them most!" Coco said, losing her cool composure and frantically checking her pockets. "No! Nononononononono! Aw man! I blew it! Of all the things to-" she said, looking up at the ceiling and feeling her sunglasses press against her face. Within seconds, Coco's smile returned as she took her shades off. "Aha! There we go! The hype is back! Time to be hero.. Again." she said, folding up her sunglasses and putting them in her pocket. She then pulled them out and put them back on, heading into the arena to face Crowley.

"Good job taking out Velvet and the big guy." She said, applauding slowly as she headed to, the bloodied warrior climbing out of the crater and beaming at Coco through her wavy black hair. "But… I'm invincible and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Coco exclaimed as Jen was clean of blood, letting out a laugh before joining her in the circle. The mesa stage sunk away in front of them, soon replaced by a simple field of wheat.

"The judges have decided to give them a field stage. Hopefully they don't find a way to destroy this stage as well…" Glynda muttered as the buzzer sounded, signaling the possibly final fight of the match.

Crowley leapt into the wheat, Coco smirked and unhooked the Gatling gun from her back. "You want to be a farmer? Here's a couple of acres!" Coco shouted before firing her Gatling gun, sweeping toward the injured Crowley and slowly cutting down all of the field of grain before her, leaving a land of cut straw.

"That doesn't even make any sense!" Crowley shouted from the field, running from the hail of rubber rounds. Coco spun round, wiping out all of the wheat in her pursuit of Crowley. Jen soon started to get pelted with rounds, Coco cackling madly with each shot.

"TAKE THAT, WHEEEEATTTT!" she yelled out before being hit from behind. "Anh! Alright! It's on!" Coco said, turning to face Crowley. She dodged an oncoming shot from Jen, getting in quick jabs before jumping back, pulling out her twin pistols and firing, forcing the older Huntress to retreat.

Crowley dodged the attacks, Coco emptying both clips and reloading them. "Come on, Crowley! You can't hide forever!" the Beacon student called out, firing out another full set of clips. Jen soon came out, Coco dodging an oncoming strike and grabbing her injured arm, turning around behind her and pulling her injured shoulder backward in a submission hold.

"Oooh! Nasty submission move by Coco! She's looking to snap that arm right off!" Ritters said excitedly.

"Come on! Tap! Tap!" Coco shouted, wrapping her arm around Crowley's neck. Crowley let out a growl, breaking into a backwards run and leaping into the air, sending the two fighters to the ground. Coco quickly began twist and turn, forcing Jen facedown on the ground and sitting atop her, pulling her neck and shoulder back. Crowley struggled but couldn't use her free arm to fight back while Coco was on top of her tightening the hold, yelling "ASK HER!" repeatedly at the referee as he was running out onto the field. The official, upon entering, simply shook his head, trying to explain that submissions weren't an option for victory. Crowley's struggle started to weaken with each passing second, Coco screaming her lungs out as if expelling an excess of manic energy. "ULTIMATE DEATH LOCK!" she shouted, scaring the crowd slightly. After what must've felt like an hour, Crowley passed out in Coco's hold, sending the crowd into dead silence.

"KO!" the speaker called out as Coco released the hold, standing over the fallen Crowley with outstretched arms, screaming into the heavens.

"Yang… Is Coco a real person?" Weiss asked the Boxing Club member, who shrugged and smirked.

"You should see her when she's losing a fight. I busted her head open once and she wouldn't stop smiling…" Yang replied, shuddering a bit. The crowd was now wondering. How did she do it? How did she just put down Jen Crowley when even the massive Yatsuhashi couldn't do it? Who is Coco Adel? -WHAT- is Coco Adel?

"She's crazy is what she is," Fox said as medics worked to help Crowley out. Jen came to within seconds, the crowd gasping in shock as Crowley walked over to Coco, who was still basking in her victory.

"Hey Adel. You three put on a great fight. I'm not a betting girl, but I think you'll be making it to the finals." Crowley said, raising a fist. Coco smiled, bumping fists with her opponent. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go to the hospital." she said, walking off without assistance from the medics.

"Coco! That was amazing!" Velvet cried out as she rushed onto the arena and tackled Coco to the ground, hugging her. Fox and Yatsuhashi followed after Velvet, Yatsu lifting Coco and Velvet onto his shoulders, the two Huntresses cheering with the crowd in celebration.

"Coco… it's cool that you won and all… but you still have another fight…" Fox said, pointing over to Seren who was waiting with a loaded rifle.

"Thehelliswrongwithyoupeople..." Seren asked quickly under her breath, staring in utter confusion as Yatsuhashi seat his teammates down.

"Right! Fox! Get me a mic!" Coco ordered.

"Coco, I don't think this is time to-" he argued, Coco pushing up her glasses.

"Yatsu! Get me a mic!" she said again, Yatsuhashi holding up a finger.

"Uh…" he said.

"Okay! Velvet! Get me a mic!" Coco ordered, Velvet quickly running off to find a microphone. After a few minutes passed, Velvet returned with a working mic, Coco grabbing it. "So this is how it goes down. Leader to leader. Seren Thorne, the Frozen Fangs of MJST," Coco declared, Seren blinking and going "Frozen Fangs? What?" as Coco continued. "Coco Adel. Leader of Team CVFY, the Blazin' Hot Mad Metal Machine Gun Mistress, the Hype Queen and the BADDEST BABE IN THE BUILDING!" she continued, sliding onto her knees.

"Wh-why are you yelling? I'm right here! I feel like you're wasting your time right now!" Seren said, Fox simply shaking his head, turning the other way.

"You had better win Coco or I will never speak to you again…" Fox muttered as Coco rose to her feet. She began spinning on her feet before leaping into the air and pointing two fingers at the girl in a top hat

"YOU'RE GOIN' DOWN AND EVERYBODY'S GONNA WATCH ME DO IT!" Coco shouted, grabbing her Gatling gun and strumming the base of it like a guitar.

"I… this… again, this was on international broadcast television." Weiss said, stunned as Blake buried her face in a book to hide herself from the madness that was going on.

"This school is full of lunatics" Weiss uttered, hearing Ruby giggling at what she was watching.

"Ruby! Don't laugh at Coco! She'll know and put you in a half-crab!" Yang shouted as her sister kept giggling.

"Hehehehe! Oh my gosh, this is so funny!" Ruby said, snorting and pounding the armchair, Yang flailing her arms and yelling in a desperate effort to get Ruby to stop.

"I think Ruby's gotten better, Yang…" Blake said bluntly as Yang went to help Ruby breathe.

"Come on, just take deep breaths, it wasn't that funny, sis…"


	36. Round 1 Complete

The two huntresses stood in the center as the final stage rose around them, several mountainous rock formations appearing as Coco cracked her knuckles. "Now I implore the two of you, could you _not_ blow up this stage?" Glynda asked over the speakers, the referee nodding in agreement before calling for the buzzer.

"No promises." Coco muttered to herself as she looked over the girl clad in blue… who was inexplicably wearing a top hat. Seren tipped her top hat to her opponent, rearing her arm back and throwing it into the crowd where Ren caught it.

"I got you another hat, Jaune." Ren said, putting the top hat on Jaune's head.

"Please stop…" Jaune said, exasperated and burying his head in the top hat.

"Heh, how many hats have you bought to do that?" Coco asked, Seren chuckling a bit.

"I've lost count at this point." she replied, the buzzer sounding and the two pulling out their guns. Each one with a pair of pistols, Coco wielding two silver revolvers with the words "Zero" and "Fear" etched into the left and right gun respectively, Thorne carrying two tactical pistols herself as they stepped closer, trying to fire shots at the other's face. Mixing in strikes and kicks, Coco kept trying to flank her by kicking and moving to the side, but the slightly taller girl she was fighting would slide her arms in the way, pushing them to the side to make each of the 12 shots miss. Each shot of Thorne's pistol caused ice to form in the air and fly off into little glimmers as they both emptied their chambers, Coco pointing her revolver straight at Seren's face as the gun clicked.

"WHY DO GUNS NEED AMMO!?" Coco shouted as Seren lept into the air, kicking her in the chest and causing her to trip over a rock behind her, leaving her on the ground as the Haven huntress quickly reloaded her guns while Coco was climbing back onto her feet.

"Life and death will be entirely decided on when you reload, Ms. Adel… Don't screw it up now, alright?" Seren taunted, Coco quickly chambering and pointing them in the direction of where she heard the voice, firing blindly in that direction.

"Oh don't be so cryptic!" Coco shouted, before realizing she was firing at empty air. She sighed, adjusting her glasses as she slowly crept downward, looking for cover while she looks for the missing combatant. She slowly crept behind a rock, reloading her remaining shots into her chamber and spinning each one before closing it yet again.

"Hello again." A rather cheery voice said just behind her. Coco turned around, noticing Seren perched on the very same rock she was leaning up against.

"Sonuva-" Coco was cut off when she was blasted in the face by a sudden burst of cold from one of Thorne's handcannons. Stumbling back and pressing her face to her sleeve as the tripped over the same rock she tripped on before, this time rolling down the side of a small cliff and landing on the grass below. Coco landed with a bounce and feeling the wind escape her lungs, her sunglasses fell off and rolled away, landing up against a tree. "Okay, she's trying to piss me off. I should know that, I do it to other people all the time." She muttered to herself, getting on her knees and reaching for her spectacles before putting them back on her rather cold face. "Need to keep cool, but figuratively and not literally." She added as she slapped her face with both of her hands to get her adrenaline going.

"I gotta admit, I'm a shooter myself, but this kind of shooting is well out of my range." Ritters said, Glynda opening her mouth but having to stop to try and figure out which part was the pun.

"YEAH! DOUBLE PUN!" Yang shouted with her arms raised to the ceiling.

"You are the worst sister…" Ruby muttered, hiding in her cloak. Suddenly, the chatter was broken by the thunderous sound of a heavy rifle blasting a nearby rock to ice a foot away from Coco's boots. Coco let out a gasp, leaping away from frozen rock.

"I'd like to give you a fair warning, I also have a sniper rifle!" Seren shouted from far away, Coco sighing in response.

"I didn't get a chance to reload my Gatling! Not cool!" She shouted back, reaching up to grab the strap over her chest to uncuff her assault rifle, loading up the banana clip as another shot rang out, this one whizzing by and cutting a slice of her hair, leaving a ring of frost in her brown hair.

"Quite cool in fact, cupcake, don't break sight of your target." Seren taunted her yet again, Coco reached up and noticed the chunk of her hair frozen and broken off.

"No one messes with the hair…" Coco said in a cold voice, Yang's smile from another ice pun fading as she saw the look in Coco's ice.

"Oh… oh no…" Yang said, Blake looking up from her book.

"What's up, Yang?" Blake asked, Yang swallowing hard.

"Coco's pissed… Run, Thorne!" Yang shouted futilely as Coco pulled back the slide on her assault rifle. She leapt straight up the cliff she fell down with just two hops, ducking another round as she slid back into cover, not even waiting for the next attack to happen, she charged up the hillside as her eyes darted around for Thorne, eventually seeing the gleam of her scope from the sunlight.

"Found you." Coco said quietly for a rare time in her life, pointing the gun where she was perched and firing 16 straight shots in that direction. Thorne was hit in the face and shoulder with several rounds as she stumbled back trying to find a new place to shoot as Coco yet again, though the angered brunette came prepared. Not even a moment later, she reloaded again and broke into a full speed run after her, knowing her hand to hand training would mean she could probably outpace the more calculated sniper. Seren made a run for it, hiding behind a small cliff and reloading her rifle, popping out to fire shots at Coco's legs to freeze her.

"Just gotta slow her down…" Seren said, shooting the raging gunman in the legs, the ice rounds making her legs begin to form ice along it, making her running slow, but she grit her teeth and powered through it, not even thinking about stopping.

"If her body temperature gets too low, her health sensor will activate and stop the fight!" Glynda shouted with some tension in her voice, completely unsure of what's going to happen next. Coco broke the ice off her legs, crouching down and leaping into the air. Seren looked up and aimed, firing another shot that froze Coco's shoulder before receiving a kick to the head. Before she could even react, Coco had a foot on her chest and her rifle right at her face. "KO." she said venomously, firing the entire clip right at Seren's face. 16 rubber rounds shot out within seconds, smacking Seren hard in the face. Seren's head bounced against the ground, one of the shots drawing blood before she was rendered unconscious.

Coco took her foot off her fallen opponent, staggering a bit before dropping to one knee, using her assault rifle for support. The crowd sat in dead silence, medics running out to gather the unconscious Seren and try to halt the bleeding. The screen flashed a red "X" over Seren's profile, the speaker announcing another knockout before showing all four Team CFVY profiles and "Winner: CFVY" in gold lettering. The crowd finally erupted into cheers as the screens showed fight statistics and replays

"She's out cold!" Ritters shouted with a grin as Glynda gave him a cold stare.

"You are ruining the integrity of this tournament. Please stop." she said before turning her attention to the arena.

Coco slowly forced herself up, turning to see her team come onto the field, approaching her cautiously. "Ah… er.. Good job?" Velvet said nervously, Team CFVY's leader gingerly walking over and hugging her leporine friend, Velvet seizing up and letting out a squeak of fear.

"Don't be a dork and let me hug you." Coco said warmly, Velvet shakily returning the hug.

"And this is why I don't tell you to get serious." Fox said with a smirk, Coco releasing the hug and walking off.

"C'mon, team! It's party time! We're going to round two!" she said, the rest of her team still trying to shake off the whiplash of seeing Coco go from her usual over-the-top self to a cold-blooded killer and then back within minutes.

The team walked through the backstage on their way back to their hotel, Coco checking the damage done to her hair in a compact mirror. "Think it's salvageable. Probably comb it and no one will know the difference." she said.

"Well, it's good to have the Coco we know and love back. Right, Fox?" Velvet asked, Fox rubbing his chin.

"I need time to think about that…" Fox said, Yatsuhashi chuckling behind them.

"So, any idea who we're facing in the next round?" the big man asked, Fox shaking his head.

"Not a clue. The process is completely randomized. It's not like some cheap game show, there's no pattern programmed in for fights." he explained as they made their way to the door.

"Hey! Velvet!" a voice called as Coco grabbed the door handle. She turned to look, putting on a knowing smile. "Heh, looks like your boy's here to congratulate you." Coco said, Velvet turning her head to see Jaune run up to them. "We'll go grab some pizza and meet you back at the hotel. Room number is 1116. Don't spend too long, lovebirds!" Coco said, running through the door with Fox and Yatsu behind her, leaving Velvet standing there before she could process what Coco had just said.

"Lovebir- Ah! C-Coco!" Velvet exclaimed as Jaune caught up to her.

"Uh… hey, is this a bad time?" Jaune asked as Velvet turned to face him, her face beet red.

N-no, not at all. Been enjoying the tournament?" she asked.

"Yeah, you did a great job against Calder and… I mean, Crowley didn't kill you... eheheheheh…" Jaune said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Th-thanks… Jaune… what's that you've got behind you?" Velvet asked, tilting her head slightly to get a better look.

"Oh… oh! Yeah, the good luck charm… I got you a hat. Y'know… for luck…" he said, taking a blue and white top hat out from behind his back. He placed the hat on her head somewhat roughly, her ears going lopsided.

"Uh… s-sorry, I'm not used to putting hats on rabbits. Wait, that came out wrong! I-I meant that-" Jaune stammered out, Velvet giggling and grabbing the brim of the hat.

"It takes a lot of work. Took me months to get my hood to fit." she explained, carefully adjusting the hat around her ears. "Just gotta get the tips through. They're the hardest part since they'll always bend a weird way." Velvet said, sliding the hat onto her head. "It fits perfectly. Thank you, Jaune… but wait, isn't this Seren's hat?" she asked, Jaune quickly shaking his head.

"No." he said bluntly.

"But she threw it into the crowd, near the Beacon stands. Are you sure that-" she asked, Jaune cutting her off.

"Just wear the hat, please." Jaune said, Velvet smiling and tipping the hat.

"Jaune, that's your hat." Ren said from behind, Jaune and Velvet screaming in surprise.

"REN! How'd you sneak up on us?!" Jaune said in confusion and shock.

"I walked very quietly." Ren said, Jaune facepalming.

"Did you not want the hat?" Ren asked.

"Ah… well, no but… er… Velvet, you mind if me and Ren talk this out in private?" Jaune asked, Velvet nodding rapidly and turning for the door.

"O-of course! Seeya soon, Jaune!" she said, waving to him as she opened the door, leaving the Colosseum and heading for the hotel.

As Velvet walked through the fairgrounds, she watched other winning teams still celebrating their victories with drinks and games of chance. The Beacon student, caught up in the sights and sounds, bumped into another person, falling backwards.

"Ah! S-sorry! Didn't m-mean to-" Velvet stuttered out, looking up to see a woman with dark skin, platinum blonde hair and olive green eyes looking down coldly at Velvet. She was wearing a mostly black ensemble, black tube top, pants and flats with a red sash wrapped around her waist and a yellow robe that was hanging off her shoulders. Velvet slowly stood up, smiling nervously and offering an unsteady hand. "I-I'm Velvet Scarlatina of B-Beacon, and you are…?" Velvet said, leaving an opening for the Huntress to answer. She simply stared hard at Velvet.

"Scarlatina. That was quite the trick you pulled on Calder but if you want to survive in this tournament, you're gonna have to learn to fight.." the woman said bluntly, Velvet dropping her hand and shaking a bit with a mixture of anger and nervousness.

"I-I can fight!" she exclaimed, glaring at the rude woman before her and putting up her fists. The dark-skinned blonde simply stomped her foot onto the ground, causing Velvet to yelp and back away.

"Thought so. Sheer luck is going to get you killed the moment it runs out, so go back and let your team protect you …" the woman said, walking off towards the fairgrounds. Velvet looked down at the grass as she continued her way to the hotel, covering her eyes with the brim of her top hat.

She soon made it to the hotel, entering the elevator and letting out a sigh. She had made it to the second round but she still felt like she didn't belong in this tournament. That she was still out of league even among her own team. She had won against Tristam, but it was by putting him in a trap and not by beating him face on. Fox took Maria straight on. Yatsuhashi took Crowley straight on. Coco made Crowley pass out and leveled Seren with shots. "So why can't I fight anyone head-on?" she asked as she heard the ding of the elevator come to a stop and saw the doors open. The rabbit girl made her way along the hall, hearing the familiar sound of prog rock as she got closer to room 1116. "Sounds like Coco brought her stereo…" she said as she made it up to the door, knocking gently to no response. She knocked a bit harder, still no response. Velvet let out a "Mhrm" of annoyance and banged on the door, waiting a minute to see if anyone would answer.

Velvet stepped away from the door, rearing back her leg to kick the door. As she went for the kick, the door swung upon, her foot making contact with Yatsuhashi's chest. "Ack! Y-Yatsu!" Velvet said, putting her foot back on the floor and bowing her head. "S-sorry about that! No one was answering the door and I was getting annoyed! A-Are you okay?" she asked, Yatsu chuckling and moving aside.

"Didn't even feel it. Come on in! We saved you the veggie." Yatsuhashi said with a slightly raised voice, Velvet walking in to see their accommodations for the first time. The room had two sets of bunk beds, one bathroom and a small kitchen with mini-fridge and microwave. Under normal circumstances, it would be a pretty nice room, but Velvet had come to accept that "normal circumstances" are an impossible goal with Coco.

Empty pizza boxes and crushed cans of soda were scattered around the floor, one box lying there shut tight, which Velvet assumed was the vegetable pizza Yatsuhashi had mentioned. On the nightstand by the window was a portable stereo system which was currently playing one of Coco's many specially-made soundtracks. Coco chugged another can of soda, headbutting it repeatedly until it was crushed flat and tossing it onto the floor. "Ah… Coco, how many times have you done that?" Velvet asked, somewhat dreading the answer.

"One for each soda! Including Fox and Big Yatsu's!" Team CFVY's leader replied with her familiar grin, Velvet blinking a bit and turning to the top bunk where Fox was sitting cross-legged with a pencil in his hand, eyes poring over something in front of him.

"Fox, how many cans has she-" the rabbit girl began to asked before Fox looked over to her. "11. I keep telling her that the risk of concussion increases with each one, but she either can't hear me or isn't listening, or both." he said with a sigh. Velvet nodded and grabbed the unopened pizza box from the floor, briefly struggling with the tabs and taking out a slice of veggie pizza to eat. "Most likely both."

As she ate, trying her best to drown out music that was currently at Coco's preferred setting of 11, she felt that twinge of doubt hit her again. Velvet looked around at her team; Coco was headbanging to the music, shredding an invisible guitar. Fox was still conducting his silent research and Yatsuhashi was doing push-ups on the floor. "Guys.. I… I have a question." Velvet said nervously, the music coming to a sudden stop.

"What's up, Velvet?" Coco asked, sitting down on the bunk next to her.

"...Do I really belong in this tournament? I mean, you're all so good at fighting and I've been training hard with you guys, but… but I'm not good enough…" she said, pulling her legs close and wrapping her arms around them.

"Of course you belong in the tournament! You beat a 10 year veteran Huntsman!" Coco said immediately, Velvet sinking her head down in response.

"Because I trapped him…" the Faunus girl murmured, Coco sticking her pinkie finger in her ear and spinning it around.

"Say again? I might be partially deaf from the rocking out." Coco said. Velvet continued to mumble, the Hype Queen prodding her friend until she finally raised her voice..

"I trapped him!" Velvet cried, raising her head to show tears welling up in her eyes. "I didn't fight him head-on! I blinded and stunned Calder and took an easy win! I'm not a fighter!" she shouted startling the rest of her team. Coco stared wide-eyed at Velvet, her sunglasses dropping right from her face. Fox stepped down from his bed, walking over and picking up the fallen shades. He turned to hand them to his partner, who simply put her hand over them and gently pushed them away. She wrapped her arm around Velvet, Velvet turning to see a warm, sisterly smile on Coco's face.

"Velvet, you are a fighter. There's no one way to be a fighter. Yatsuhashi's strong, Fox is agile, I'm tough. But you? You're fast and just as important, you're smart. So what if you didn't fight him head on? You didn't have to. You found a way to keep your distance until you could outwit him. So don't worry about what you're not. Besides, you've been training with us. If it should come down to a fistfight, we know who's gonna walk out with their hand raised." Coco said, pulling Velvet in close. Velvet wiped her eyes, smiling a bit.

"Thanks Coco…" she said, uncurling herself and reaching for another slice of pizza.

"You're gonna get hugged now, here comes the huggage. Can't fight it." Coco called out, hugging the rabbit Faunus tightly. Velvet smiled and returned the hug, about to thank Coco again when the door suddenly and loudly slammed open. Velvet shrieked and backed herself to the wall, dropping her slice of pizza as Coco shot up off the bed with her fists outstretched. "We're under attack, team! Attack Pattern Delta!" she exclaimed, Fox and Yatsuhashi taking their positions. Fox quickly stood next to Coco while Yatsuhashi went behind them, Velvet scrambling off the bed and making her way to the center. Ruby came bursting through the door with a cone shaped megaphone out of paper, Yang was wearing a football helmet and comically large boxing gloves and came in the room right beside her.

"Team CFVY! You are being annexed to Sleepover Island in the name of the Rose-Schnee-Long Mega Power Alliance!" She shouted as Weiss entered the room just after them wielding a dustpan and broom instead of her typical rapier. "...And also Blake." Ruby quietly added as Blake slowly leaned on a doorframe, clearly unamused.

Coco blinked in confusion. "...What?" she said as Ruby ran into the room with her paper microphone.

"IT'S A PAJAMA PARTY! YANG, POPCORN! BLAKE, PILLOWS! WEISS, DO SOMETHING WITH A 'P' IN IT!" Ruby shouted, team CFVY staring at the junior Huntress as Coco was suddenly attacked by a massive bag of popcorn.

"Ack! Kettle corn attack! Man down!" Coco shouted as she fell to the floor, Yang chuckling and hefting the 10-pound bag off her Boxing Club captain.

"Ruby thought we should celebrate your big win with a sleepover!" Yang explained enthusiastically, punching into the bag and letting popcorn spill out of hole. "We got snacks, sleeping bags, cheesy action movies, pillows…" Yang said, Blake walking in and holding up two pillows, one in each hand.

"I want to make it absolutely clear that I was not involved in this plan in the slightest." Blake said to Velvet, tossing the two pillows onto a nearby bed while Weiss swept popcorn off the floor.

"I'm only going along with Ruby's idea and because you're my friend." Weiss said to Velvet, who smiled and bowed.

"Thank you, Weiss." Velvet replied, Ruby walking over to.

"Alright, Fox! You and Yatsuhashi need to get out!" Ruby demanded, Fox staring at the teenager.

"Excuse me?" Fox asked, Yang grabbing him from behind.

"No boys allowed! Yang, bounce them!" Ruby shouted, Yang grinning and tossing Fox out of the room.

Fox stopped at the wall, hearing the sounds of a struggle behind him. He turned to see Yatsuhashi go flying at him and rolled out of the way as the seven foot Huntsman slammed into the wall.

"You okay, Yatsuhashi?" Fox asked, still trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Anh… yeah, doing alright… Fox, what just happened?" Yatsuhashi asked as he pulled himself off the wall.

"We got kicked out of our own room…" Fox said in utter disbelief, turning to see Ruby playfully stick her tongue out and shut the door on them. "...This is gonna be a long tournament…"


	37. Montage, Part 1

The screen shuffled through the second round teams, first landing on Team CFVY with the profiles of Coco, Fox and Yatsuhashi. "And it's Team CFVY of Beacon; represented by Coco Adel, Fox Alistair and Yatsuhashi Daichi. And their opponents will be.." Glynda said as the screen cycled again. It soon landed on the symbol of three swords meeting tips, the emblem of the Kingdom of Vacuo. Three profiles appeared on the screen, showing the three Hunters from Shade Academy. One the left was a scarred young man with short dark gray hair, blue eyes and wolf ears. On the right was a woman with green eyes, long orange hair and fox ears. In the center was a large man with chocolate brown eyes, hair and small, stubby ears. "Team VACU of Shade; represented by Vivian Lianna, Connor Gray and Uther Braun!" Glynda announced as the lights dimmed. The speaker suddenly played a generic hard rock track as the single remaining light illuminated the stairs in the Beacon section of the crowd.

As the repetitive guitar crunch went on, team CFVY headed down the stairway, dressed in all black. Coco was clad in her sunglasses and a flak jacket, Fox was wearing a parachute jacket and Yatsuhashi took the back in large bulletproof vest. "I didn't know they made bulletproof vests in his size." Ruby said, watching from the TV in the Olympus Gym that was at the end of the fairgrounds, Velvet watching from on a treadmill and smiling.

"Coco had it custom made for him. She's quite the seamstress…" she answered, Ruby grabbing her whistle and blowing it loudly.

"Run faster, Velvet! You got legs! You should know how to use them!" the junior Huntress barked out, Velvet yelping and picking up the pace. Velvet had brought up her concerns to Weiss during the nonconsensual pajama party, the Schnee heiress gathering the rest of what Ruby dubbed the "RoSchnee BelLong Alliance" (RSBLA), team CFVY and ANVL together to formulate a training plan for Velvet. All eleven Hunters would take turns over the next few days so Velvet could train for the finals, Team CFY holding up the team for the trios and doubles rounds. Velvet watched the fight as she ran, Ruby barking orders at her the whole time.

Fox was the first to go over the guardrail, doing a flip over the rail and rolling onto his feet. Coco followed up with a leap over the guardrail, landing feet-first and adjusting her shades, Yatsuhashi following by slowing climbing over the rail, jumping down and landing on one knee, fist dug into the floor. The two made it to the center, the spotlight following them all the way until the lights went back on, the hard rock track finally ending. By comparison, Team VACU entered wearing matching uniforms of orange and tan scavenger clothes. The team removed their weathered tan cloaks, handing them to the referee before engaging in the Meeting of Hands. "You know, when most people do a special entrance for these things, they usually do only one entrance…" Vivian commented as she shook Coco's hand.

"That's because most people ain't got style like my team." she shot back, Fox and Connor sharing a silent handshake while Uther brought himself chest-to-head with Yatsuhashi. Unlike many of these staredowns, it was Yatsuhashi who had to crane his neck up to look his opponent in the eyes.

"Oh my… I'm kind of glad I sat this round out. Poor Yatsu…" Velvet said, Ruby chuckling a bit.

"Yang could take him." Ruby replied, Velvet laughing and attempting to reach over to ruffle Ruby's hair, only to nearly slipped and fall off the treadmill.

"Ahh! N-no!" Velvet exclaimed as she scrambled to adjust herself.

"Hah! My hair will remain unruffled today! Now keep running!" the younger Huntress ordered, turning back to the TV to see the camera was turned to the selection screen, cycling to pick the first two fighters. The first fight ended up being Fox vs. Vivian. The others left the stage, which sunk away to reveal mostly water with the center surrounded by mounds of sand. The buzzer sounded that two began their fight.

Vivian moved at a fast pace, kicking up sand as she ran, hitting Fox with quick strikes and dodging before he could land a hit on her. "Okay, she's got speed. Now to find a way to cut her off." Fox thought, looking around at the island stage seeing mostly sand and few palm trees with fresh coconuts. "You have got to be kidding…" Fox said, jumping up onto onto the tree. Vivian looked up to see him grabbing a coconut.

"Heh, gettin' hungry?" Vivian asked before a coconut went flying at her. The fox Faunus quickly dodged as Fox jumped down, watching Vivian's movements carefully to see when and where she would strike again. Within seconds she went for another strike to his back, only for Fox to turn around and swing a coconut right at her head. The hard fruit connected with the side of her head, shattering on impact.

"Hah! Hit 'em with a coconut! That's a classic Ritters move!" Sebastian said, Glynda turning to him with what had become a familiar look of confusion.

"You hit a fighter with a coconut before…?" she asked before turning back to see Fox go behind the stunned Vivian, grabbing her by the waist and lifting her off her feet, falling back to drive her headfirst into the sand.

Fox quickly flipped back onto his feet, taking the time to think out his next move, checking the monitor to see his opponent's vitals. Vivian was currently in the orange and she'd probably come to within seconds.

"..I'm gonna have to pull a page out of the Coco playbook, aren't I?" Fox said as he grabbed Vivian's right ankle, twisting it while the fox Faunus pulled her head from the sand.

"Anh… my head… and now… oh no ya don't!" Vivian said, going for a kick with her free foot, only for Fox to block and continue twisting his opponent's ankle.

"Apply precise pressure. Don't want to break the ankle, just do enough damage to-" his thoughts were cut off by a quick kick to the head. Fox let go of Vivian's ankle, the Shade Huntress getting back up, leaning to her left as she moved gingerly to get some distance between her and Fox.

"Okay, let's see you dodge this!" Vivian said, reaching into a sack draped around her side, pulling out dozens of throwing stars into each hand and tossing them into the air on each side of him. He took pause for a second as he realized something. "I think you missed." Fox calmly stared, hand on his hip.

"Wait for it..." She mouthed, when suddenly a large gust of wind behind him began to blow a near tempest behind him. "The shurikens have wind Dust…"she said, Fox's eyes widening. quickly going for a second attempt at dodging. He took a few cuts from the shurikens, the stars coming to a stop between the two fighters. Fox watched carefully, seeing Vivian hold a glowing green crystal in her hand, which she spun, the shurikens spinning around in the air and sand being kicked up. Fox moved carefully as a tornado of sand soon formed in front of him. He took a deep breath, watching the shurikens slip in and out of the sand. The crowd in the stands and the viewers at home watched in anticipation as Fox charged in, leaping straight into the tornado. The shurikens cut him as he passed through, moving fast enough to nullify the efforts to dull them. The Beacon student made it through the tornado, catching Vivian off-guard as he launched a fast kick, knocking the wind crystal from her hand and following it up by connecting a shot to his opponent's head, knocking her out.

"Yeah! Go Fox!" Velvet said as she watched the TV screen, feeling a hard jab at her shoulder. "Ah! Weiss!" she exclaimed, turning to the Schnee heiress who had the dulled tip of Myrtenaster pressed into her shoulder, looking at Velvet with a hard stare.

"Focus, Velvet. You're here to train, not watch TV. Blake's not fighting you, so she can watch the tournament for you." Weiss said, turning to Blake who was sitting on a nearby bench with a book in her hand. Blake looked up from her book at Velvet and Weiss.

"Fox won the fight." Blake said, turning her eyes back to the book.

"..Thank you, Blake." Weiss said, rubbing her temples with one hand before walking back behind the white line on the training mat. "You won't be ready for the finals if you can't focus on the opponent in front of you." Weiss said, returning to a fighting stance. The rabbit Faunus picked up the practice sword at her feet.

"Oh man, here comes the bear dude!" Nora said with a grin as she watched the TV with Blake.

Velvet was about to turn her eyes to the TV when she saw Weiss charge at her again and quickly blocked. Velvet took to the offensive at this point, Weiss blocking each attack and counting in Old Valian. "Ein, Zwei, Drei, Miss. Ein, Zwei, Miss. Ein, Miss. Miss. Miss." Weiss said, Velvet missing a few swings.

"I'd hit better if you'd stop counting in Old Valian, it's throwing off my rhythm." Velvet said, missing another swing.

"Okay, let's try this again… One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Miss, One, Two, Three, Four, Five. Six, Miss." Weiss said, dodging an oncoming stab. "You're doing good, Velvet. It's like you taught me years ago, fighting is like a dance. If you're out of rhythm, you're gonna end up with a swollen foot… or decapitated. One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, _Eight!_ _**Nine! TEN!**_ Halt!" Weiss called, dodging what would've been Velvet's 11th attack. "Alright, you're getting your rhythm down. Now for blocking. Block ten attacks from me and Blake. Go!" Weiss called, going for a swing which caused Velvet to yelp and block."...One." Weiss said with a smile, pulling back and going for a stab, which Velvet dodged.

"Two. Three. Four. Ooh, good jump! That's Five, Six. Hit." the Schnee heiress said a s she caught her former servant with a hit to the side. "Don't get discouraged. Every failure is just a notch on the belt of progress. You make a mistake and you learn from it." she said encouragingly, Velvet smiling and nodding before quickly blocking another strike. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Halt!" Weiss called, holding the tip of her throat. "You've been doing good, but I'm noticing that every time I go for an attack, you try to counter early. You didn't pay attention to what I was doing and I cut right through your defenses." she explained, Velvet nodding gently with the sword tip at her neck. "Don't. You need to make an opening before you attack, not force it. Your weapon is an extension of your own arm, but how good is it going to do if you don't have arms?" Weiss asked, pulling her sword away from the rabbit girl. "Fortsetzen!" Weiss cried, going for another stab, which Velvet dodged.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Si-" Weiss counted until she felt the tip of her own sword get parried away, Velvet's sword at her neck.

"Halt." Velvet said with a smile, Weiss smiling back.

"Very good. Blake! You're up!" Weiss said, walking off the training mat. Blake marked her place, setting the book down and picking up a blunt Gambol Shroud and stepping onto the mat. Weiss took the empty seat on the bench next to Nora. "So, how's Fox doing?" Weiss asked, looking up at the TV screen to see Uther drive Fox down onto the sand. He turned to the screen, seeing that Fox was still in the orange, grabbed him off the sand by the legs, lifted him back up and threw him back down. The crowd was booing the nine-foot Faunus heavily but Uther simply smirked, grabbing Fox again and hitting him with another powerbomb. Fox, back barking in pain, struggled back to his feet, only to be grabbed again.

"Referee, call the match! Alistair can't take much more of this! This is barbaric!" Glynda shouted, Ritters tossing his headset off and getting up from his seat, walking to the door. "Sebastian! Stay in the announce table! You can't put your hands on a fighter!" Glynda said, having muted herself and turning to stop Ritters from leaving.

The referee soon came in after yet another powerbomb, yelling at Uther to back away and threatening to disqualify him. Uther put his massive hand on the ref's face, shoving him aside and going to grab Fox again when he was tackled to the ground by Yatsuhashi, the crowd roaring in approval. Yatsuhashi, wet and panting from swimming across the shallow waters surrounding the island stage, turned to Fox, helping him to his feet. "You alright, Fox?" he asked, Fox nodding and smiling.

"Good save. See you at Olympus Gym." Fox replied as a small boat rowed across the water to pick him up. Fox jumped on as the monitor put a red X over his profile and replaced it with Yatsu's. Uther came to his feet, flashing a wide grin as he towered over the Beacon student.

"Lucky tackle there, little man…" Uther said, pulling back a fist and throwing it, which Yatsuhashi quickly caught, a shockwave blowing away sand and creating small waves in the water. Uther tried for another punch, getting caught again. The two locked hands, Uther pushing down on the smaller Yatsuhashi. Yatsuhashi tightened his grip, fighting to hold himself above the sand as he feet started to sink. The two broke the hold, Uther quickly catching Yatsuhashi by the waist and tossing him over his head, the seven-foot student flying off into the water. The bear Faunus gave out a hearty laugh as Yatsuhashi resurfaced, charging right at Uther and punching him square in the chest. Uther shook slightly from the blow but stayed standing. "What? Is that the best you got, little man?" he asked cockily, rearing back and flooring Yatsu with a hard right, grabbing him and throwing him into the palm tree. Yatsuhashi uprooted the tree upon collision, the crowd looking on in shock and wondering if he was taken out as well.

"Oh no, this is bad... if Yatsuhashi loses this, we can say goodbye to even seeing the finals…" Weiss said with an air of defeat in her voice, Nora simply laughing gleefully. "Nora! How can you laugh about this? There's nothing funny about this!" the Schnee heiress shouted, appalled at Nora's brazen disregard for the severity of this situation.

"I'm laughing because you think Big Yatsu can't win this!" Nora said, Weiss looking at her with a look of deep puzzlement.

"Haven't you been watching the fight? Uther's bigger and stronger than Yatsuhashi. There's no way he can win at this rate." Weiss said. Nora crossed her arms, laughing louder than before as Velvet started to falter in her training against Blake.

"Ah, Weiss. So wealthy and so naive. A fight isn't determined on size and strength. No, the thing that wins a battle is your fighting spirit. Your will to keep going no matter what stands in your way. I've seen Yatsuhashi train and I can tell you one thing…" Nora said, watching as Yatsuhashi slowly got back to his feet. "He has immense fighting spirit." she finished, Yatsuhashi walking over to Uther, who had been celebrating an assumed victory, and hitting him with a hard forearm shot that sent the bear Faunus off his feet.

"Wh-what?!" Uther gasped out, coming to his feet to see Big Yatsu standing tall and proud. Uther, slightly shaken, returned to his usual arrogant self within seconds, holding out his hands and inviting another test of strength, which Yatsuhashi met. As with before, Uther held the early advantage, forcing Yatsuhashi into the sand. The Shade student, his confidence returning, began to taunt Yatsuhashi "Face it, kid! You're not the big dog here! So why don't you just give up?!" he shouted, ignoring the chants of "Yat-Su Ha-Shi!" coming from the crowd, led on by Coco.

"Because it's not about how big the dog is… it's about how much he's willing to give!" Yatsuhashi shouted back, forcing Uther's arms back and pulling himself from the sand. More and more, he began to take control of the hold, soon standing on his feet, Uther left in shock before being hit with a hard knee that knocked the wind out of him. Yatsuhashi took the exhausted Uther, tucking his head under his arm and hooking other arm under Uther's leg. He soon lifted the massive Uther up into the air, the crowd going silent at this feat of strength, holding him before falling back and driving Uther's head into the sand, knocking him right out and securing the win for Team CFVY. The crowd went ballistic, cheering excitedly as Yatsuhashi exhaustively stood back up.

"He did it! I can't believe it! He beat Uther!" Weiss said, hands at the side of her head and eyes bulging. Her surprise at the victory was broken by the sound of metal hitting floor, Weiss turning to see Gambol Shroud knocked aside with Velvet forcing Blake into a yield. Weiss smiled, glad to see that Velvet was getting better with each lesson.

"I'm glad she's at least a quick learner." Blake said, rubbing some of the soreness out of her wrist as she grabbed her sword, placing it back into its scabbard.

"Yang, you're up." Blake said, heading back to the bench. Yang nodded and cracked her knuckles, Velvet gulping slightly and thinking she was gonna have to fight Yang.

"Alright, Velvet! Time for a bit of hand-to-hand!" Yang said, walking over and grabbing a pair of gloves with foam pads on the palms. Velvet sighed in relief, grateful that she wouldn't have to get into a fight with the Boxing Club's best striker. "First time I ever wore focus mitts myself. Last time I saw these, I punched so hard I broke the guy's hand. Got a bit too into it..." the blonde admitted, Velvet's smile fading.

"I-I didn't want to hear that before I started punching you!" Velvet said, Yang chuckling and putting up her hands, bouncing lightly on her feet.

"Just follow my lead… man, Weiss wasn't kidding about the whole 'fighting being a dance' thing. Why didn't I think of that?" Yang asked, stopping her movement to contemplate before returning to trainer mode. "Alright, let's do this! Left jab!" Yang shouted, Velvet quickly doing a left jab which Yang blocked. "Good! Right jab! Nice! Left jab! Right hook! Uppercut! Right side kick! Left side kick! Sweep!" Yang ordered, Velvet following each step perfectly. "That's the stuff! Alright! Let's get some real challenges in here! Gimme roundhouse!" the blonde brawler said, Velvet taking a deep breath, swinging her leg and hitting the focus mitt. "Yeah! Other leg!" Yang said, Velvet hitting it again with her left foot instead. "Elbow! Left roundhouse! Uppercut! Uppercut! Left hook! Liver shot! Right jab! Double jab! Heh, Coco's been training you to fight, hasn't she?" Yang asked, Velvet smiling and nodding. "You oughta join the Boxing Club…"

"Coco's offered me a spot, but I don't really like fighting." Velvet explained, Yang tilting her head in confusion.

"Then why are you a huntress?" Yang asked in a non mocking tone, padded gloves on her hips.

"I want to protect people. The Grimm have been a plague on humanity since the beginning of recorded history, nobody knows how to stop it and to be honest… Life after living with Weiss was hard because I didn't know what to do besides live in fear, hoping my life wouldn't get cut short by a stray Nevermore, like… If I found someone to love, having a few children and get a home, before just watching helplessly as they die while I'm not able to do anything." She said, looking at the floor as everyone in the room just stared at her, completely baffled by hearing something like that coming from her. "I want to save everyone from that danger. I know I'm not tough, or strong, or even that important in the grand scheme of things. But if stopping Grimm is the best way I know to save people? I'd die 1000 times just to do it." Velvet said, Yang looking at her with her mouth agape before smiling.

"That's… really something, Velvet…" Yang said, the sound of the announce calling "KO!" coming from the TV. The group turned to see Coco with her arm raised and a missing lens to her sunglasses. The shades fell to one side and Team CFVY's leader looked furious, but there were still cheers among the collected training group. Team CFVY was advancing to the semi-finals. They had one last step to the finals. One more step to Velvet's moment. Ruby quickly tackled Velvet to the ground, hugging her.

"You're going to the finals! Yaaaaay~" Ruby said excitedly, disregarding the semi-finals in her excitement.

"Why are you squeezing so hard?" Velvet mumbled out a complaint from underneath the red cloaked girl.

"Ruby's strength is tied to how happy she is." Yang joked. As Velvet managed to pull herself and Ruby up, Weiss joined in on the hug, followed by Blake and, most painful of all, Nora. Velvet soon returned the full-on hug attack, which only grew larger as training had come to a stop that day.


	38. Montage, Part 2

The next day's semifinals saw Fox and Yatsuhashi fighting against a team from Mantle, siblings Owen and Robin Jacobs. Fox and Yatsu made his way down the center, Coco groaning as she watched from Olympus Gym. "Come on, Fox! I gave you specific instructions for the entrance! You're not even wearing the costumes I made for this round!" she groused, not even paying attention to Velvet behind her doing push-ups.

"Coco… I've been doing push-ups for four minutes… can I stop yet?" Velvet asked, Coco turning and pulling down her shades.

"You do 100?" Coco asked.

"87." Velvet answered, pushing up again.

"Thirteen more. Keep it going." Coco said, Velvet pushing herself through the last twelve as Nora walked into the gym, carrying a human-shaped dummy with a crudely drawn angry face and orange wig.

"Took me a while to find this!" Nora exclaimed, tossing the dummy onto the mat. Velvet walked over and looked down at it with a look of confusion. "I introduce Training Cardin 2.0!" Nora said, the rabbit Faunus soon realizing that this lump of stuffing and orange was supposed to be Cardin. She started laughing, nearly doubling over in amusement. Pyrrha entered the gym, seeing Velvet dying of laughter at the sight of the practice dummy.

"Heh, I thought you'd like that. So want to hear the best part?" Pyrrha asked, Velvet smiling and nodding. "You'll be getting to throw it around today. Nora wants to work on your power moves." she explained, Velvet bending down to lift the dummy.

The faux-Cardin was a lot heavier than she had first thought, Nora made it look easy. Velvet grunted with the strain of lifting the dummy, bending her legs until her knees touched her elbows and finally managing to get a stable hold on the dummy. "There we go! Now give it a good suplex!" Nora shouted, Velvet struggling to keep hold of the dummy. She tried to throw the dummy, but it felt heavier with each lift attempt.

"Use your aura if you've got to!" Pyrrha said encouragingly, the rabbit Faunus taking a deep breath and shutting her eyes to find her focus. After a few minutes, Velvet managed to execute a basic suplex. But the amount of effort in doing so had worn her out so bad it seemed likely that the immobile dummy Cardin was going to get up before she did.

"Hah… hah… maybe power attacks are out of my range…" Velvet said exhaustively, Pyrrha offering her a hand up.

"Okay, then keep the dummy down and work on limb targeting. We'll do some basic grappling after that." Pyrrha said, Velvet taking mental notes and turning to the Cardin dummy and grabbing one of its arms.

Pyrrha walked over to the TV screen where the rest of Velvet's training camp was huddled around, watching Yatsuhashi sent Robin crashing onto the cold ground of the glacier stage that they fought on, earning another knockout and victory for Team CFVY. The group exploded in cheers, Nora grabbing whoever she could in a massive hug, Ruby jumping up and down in joy and Coco simply shrugging her shoulders and pushing up her shades. "Heh, was there any other way? Big Yatsu ain't gonna fall behind when we're this close." she said, turning to watch Velvet pull at the dummy Cardin's arm, legs wrapped around his neck to cut off air circulation even though as a dummy, the fake Cardin didn't have lungs that required breathing. Coco turned back to the screen, which showed the announce team of Glynda and Ritters in the booth.

"And there you have it, the semifinals of the Vytal Festival Tournament have completed, leaving two teams to compete in the finals. Team CFVY of Beacon and Team ABRN of Haven" Glynda said, borders on the top and bottom of the screen showing the two teams, a red X over the rightmost member of Team ABRN. "To wrap up today's broadcast, we will be presenting fighter profiles for the seven competitors, two of whom we will see in the final. Owing to my position as Deputy Headmistress of Beacon Academy, I shall be giving you the profiles for Team CFVY, starting with Team Leader Coco Adel." Glynda began, the screen showing Coco's profile, with her of course posing with her shades dropped to the bridge of her nose with one hand holding them to her face. After a split wipe, the viewers were treated to footage of Coco fighting Jen Crowley, Seren Thorne and Connor Gray, intercut with clips from Team CFVY's first and second round entrances while Glynda provided voiceover narration.

"Ms. Adel is certainly one of my more… fascinating students to step through Beacon's doorway. A girl who believes the world's the stage and demands the spotlight at any given moment. However, her skill in combat makes up for the size of her ego as she is skilled gunman with a registered seven weapons; two pistols, one sniper rifle, one shotgun, one assault rifle, one semi-automatic machine gun and her personal favorite, a massive gatling gun. And if you think that you can put her away by taking away her guns, then you would be severely mistaken." Glynda said, the screen showing footage of Coco putting Crowley in her "Ultimate Death Lock" and her viciously pummeling Connor from a mounted position. "Ms. Adel has championship wins in regional boxing tournaments from before her time in Beacon and is the head of the school's Boxing Club. Her combination of scientific wrestling and vicious brawling make her someone you can't take from either a long-range or melee position." Glynda finished, Coco's profile returning to the screen and beginning to spin to switch members.

"Aww man! This video package is awesome! They really showed off my good side! I mean, I only have good sides, but-" Coco said, talking endlessly while Pyrrha got up, walking over to Velvet who was currently holding the fake Cardin's arm in a lock, her legs wrapped around the body of the dummy, wrenching tightly. Pyrrha tapped her on the shoulder, chuckling a bit.

"Easy with the armlock, Velvet. You're gonna rip the arm right off." Pyrrha said, the rabbit Faunus letting go of the hold and tossing the dummy aside. "Alright, good work so far. Now it's time for some grappling. Let's start with a basic collar-and-elbow." she said, the two grabbing onto the other's collarbone and trying to gain control. The TV screen showed Fox's profile, showing his fights against Maria Roth and Vivian Lianna.

"Next up is Fox Alistair. If there was anyone who was a polar opposite of Coco, it would be Fox. A serious young man with a mind for strategy, Fox is considered the brains of Team CFVY. He fights wielding two wrist-mounted blades and utilizes a highly technical fighting style mixed in with stealth and mind games." Glynda explained, the screen showing footage of him putting Vivian in an ankle lock and striking Maria while staying hidden in the trees. "In spite of their differences, Coco and Fox have impressive chemistry as partners and Fox is quoted as saying 'Without Coco, I would not have made it a day in Beacon and for that I am eternally grateful.' It's certainly amazing how often the people you'd least expect turn out to be your greatest allies." Glynda said as Fox's profile returned to the screen, switching over to Velvet's profile.

"And then we have Velvet Scarlatina, a fast-moving rabbit Faunus who wields the Cross-Hare, a crossbow loaded with Dust rounds." the play-by-play announcer began with footage from Velvet's fight with Calder. "Velvet is a curious sort as while many Hunters enter either win an idea of their style or an established style, Velvet has yet to learn a discipline. However, she is able to compensate through her skills with Cross-Hare and creative use of Dust." she continued, showing Velvet blinding, stunning and knocking out Calder. "Velvet has sat out both the trios and doubles rounds, so would you say that she'd be low on the totem pole to compete in the finals, Sebastian?" Glynda asked.

"I'd say it's likely, but we can't assume that Velvet is just sitting around, eating pizza and watching trained monkey boxing. She's probably training just as hard to fight and take the trophy back home to Beacon." Ritters replied, Glynda's voiceover turning into an audible stuttering.

"Trained monkey boxi- what?" she said as Velvet's profile returned and switched to Yatsuhashi's. "Just… is that even legal? Are the monkeys paid to fight or- Anyway! Born in a quiet fishing village, Yatsuhashi certainly stood out due to his size. Standing at seven feet tall, Yatsuhashi is a gentle giant, friendly to all those he meets. Of course, once in battle his size becomes more emphasized thanks to his power-heavy fighting style and use of a claymore that is only inches shorter than himself." Glynda said, footage showing Yatsuhashi's fights with Crowley and Uther Braun, the clip of Yatsu tackling Uther being shown. "But don't let his size fool you. Yatsuhashi is as fast as his smaller companions and as those who saw his fight against the Jacobs siblings from Mantle, he is more than capable of fighting without his weapon. And that concludes our profiles on Team CFVY." Glynda finished, showing Team CFVY's profiles one last time before they were moved aside for Team ABRN's profiles, the red X over the final member.

"And now for Team ABRN. With Nadir Shiko's injury coming off the first round, we'll be discussing the remaining members of the team, starting with Reese Chloris." Ritters said, taking over narration showing a profile of a girl in a dark blue hooded sweater with long blonde hair and light green highlights, green eyes and lines of black grease underneath her eyes. The profile switched over to footage of Reese skating around the mountain stage, firing iridescent blasts from twin pistols. "A former extreme sports superstar, Reese Chloris lives her life in the fast lane. Skating, parachuting, water skiing, cage fighting, anything to get the ultimate thrill! That's what led her to Mistral and enrolling in Haven academy, looking to add Grimm hunting to her list of accolades. She fights with a specialized hybrid style of gun kata, parkour and kickboxing she calls 'MM-X.'" Ritters explained.

"What does the X stand for?" Glynda asked, a question no doubt on everyone had on their minds.

"According to Reese, it stands for X." Ritters replied, a groan of complete mental shutdown playing over a shot of Reese sliding down a hill, leaping over someone's head and blasting them out of the arena.

"You're going to be the death of me." Glynda muttered as Reese's profile returned, switching to the profile of the next team member.

The next profile showed a young man with lightly tanned skin, black hair and amber eyes. "Next up is Bolin Hori a member of the Mistral Imperial Family. Trained by the finest martial artists in all of Mistral, Bolin is a skilled fighter who utilizes a staff in battle." Ritters explained, footage shown of Bolin knocking aside an opponent with his staff. "A cocky young athlete, Bolin left a lot of openings that his opponents took advantage of due to his excessive amount of taunting, getting victories for their teams in both the first and second rounds of the tournament." he said, clips of Bolin getting knocked out while he was mocking his opponent each time. "It's this weakness that makes him unlikely to make it to the next round, especially when compared to the leader." Ritters said, sounding shockingly intelligent as the screen showed Bolin's profile one last time before switching to said leader, a familiar face that brought Velvet to release the headlock she had on Pyrrha and walk over to the TV screen.

It was the dark-skinned woman, same platinum blonde hair, same olive green eyes. "Arslan Altan, the Lion of Mistral. Wielding a feathered spear in battle, she is one of the most talented and feared martial artists in all of Mistral. Arslan brings her own brand of intensity to fighting, training, studying and hunting." Ritters said over clips of Arslan collecting victories in the first and second rounds. "With a record of six wins and no losses, Arslan is my #1 pick to represent ABRN in the finals. I'm predicting Coco vs. Arslan on this one. But for a winner, you got 50/50 on either one." Ritters finished as Arslan's profile returned to the screen. Velvet looked straight in the eyes of the one who had doubted her, who drove her to want this fight more than anything until Glynda and Ritters returned to the screen for one last sign-off.

"Hah! 50/50! If I were fighting her, there'd be no doubt who'd win this!" Coco shouted, pushing up her shades a bit and turning to see Velvet standing next to her, fists tightened and a fire in her eyes. Coco's shades dropped down the bridge of her nose, her eyes wide in shock. This was not how the Velvet she was used to. "Hey, Velvet? You feeling alright? I mean, it's cool to feel the Hype and all, but this ain't Hype…" Coco said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I've met Arslan before… she told me if I was going to survive the tournament I'd have to learn to fight. Well, I've been learning. These past two days have been nothing but learning and now… I'm ready. And it doesn't matter if I'm fighting Arslan or Reese or Bolin. I'm going in that arena and I'm not leaving without having my hand raised." Velvet said sharply, Coco's stunned stare dropping as she put her shades back up over her eyes.

"Ladies… she's ready. Get her gear." Coco said, Ruby quickly nodding and running off, coming back with a long white box with a red bow attached.

Velvet opened up the box to find a long-sleeved blue shirt with a black corset lined with steel plates to cover her chest and ribs. Below those were a dark blue shirt and black boots, a belt looped around the skirt with a scabbard attached. Finishing off the ensemble was the top hat given to her by Jaune, dyed black with a pair of aviator goggles strapped on. The whole thing was folded with a straight sword sword resting atop it. Next to the sword was a longbow and a quiver full of arrows. "Ah… thank you guys…" Velvet said, fighting back the urge to cry as she grabbed her top hat and placed it on her head.


	39. Rabbit vs Lion

Velvet took deep breaths as she sat cross-legged in the hallway, eyes shut tight. "Good. Focus only on your breathing, feel your aura flow through your body." Ren instructed calmly, helping her through some pre-fight meditation. She nodded and took another deep breath, drowning out the sound of the crowd waiting for the fight to start and focusing only on her breathing. Velvet felt a lot more calm than she had been at the start of the day. This was going to be the biggest fight in her entire life. She was now the sole representative of her school and her kingdom, facing against an unknown opponent. Even with the training she had, her confidence had nearly failed her and she almost ran for the dock to get on a boat off the only, only for her team to catch her and drag her back to the arena.

But right now, she was calm and collected. Her aura was coursing through her smoothly and soon the world around her and turned silent. She was at peace and felt like she could take all of Team ABRN by herself. " _I can do this… I can do this! I'm taking home the trophy. I'm leaving with my hand raised… I-_ " Velvet's thoughts were cut off by a hand touching her shoulder. She let out a yelp and immediately stood up and raised her fists, turning to see Jaune back away, eyes wide with surprise.

"Ack! H-hey Velvet. Sorry to interrupt…" Jaune said sheepishly, Velvet dropping her guard immediately.

"Oh! It's just you, Jaune. Thanks for the help with wielding Crocea Mors. It really helped with knowing how to use a straight sword." Velvet said.

"No problem, though didn't Weiss help you more with using a sword?" He asked, but Velvet just ignored the correction.

"You helped too, so I felt the need to thank you too." she replied. "So, what brings you here?" the rabbit Faunus asked, Jaune's eyes flashing wide before he quickly went to root around his pockets.

"Oh yeah! I had something I want to give you for good luck! Ah man, where is it?" he said, looking through each pocket and not finding anything.

"Aha! Here we go!" he said, pulling out a small bracelet with a crescent moon. "It's not much, really but I figured it'd help…" Jaune said, Velvet quickly hugging him.

"Thank you, Jaune. It's lovely." She said, holding tight while Jaune just stood there, red-faced and trying to get his mouth to work again.

"Y-you're welcome…" he said, the speaker suddenly buzzing in.

"Representing Beacon Academy… Velvet Scarlatina!" Glynda said to the waiting crowd, Velvet quickly letting go of Jaune.

"Ah! I gotta get going! Thanks for the bracelet, Jaune!" she said, quickly putting on the bracelet and her top hat before running out of the hall, heading for the arena.

She made her way to the center, the crowd on fire for the final round of the Vytal Festival, a "Vel-Vet!" chant breaking out among the Beacon faithful, the Faunus girl breaking into a wide smile as she made her way to the center. "And representing Haven Academy, the Lion of Mistral, Arslan Altan!" Ritters announced as Arslan stepped out in the same black tube top,pants, flats and red sash. However, in place of the yellow robe that hung from her shoulders was a lion's pelt, her head in the lion's mouth. In her right hand was her spear, but Velvet was more interested in Arslan's left hand, which had a black gauntlet on it. Arslan made it to the center, the Mistral crowd cheering her on as the traditional Meeting of Hands took place.

"May the best Huntress win." Velvet said as she offered her hand, Arslan staring it for a minute before taking it, shaking her hand before stepping back to allow the official to step between them.

"Velvet Scarlatina and Arslan Altan are on the field." the referee stated, looking over their weapons. Velvet's sword was properly dulled before she was given it and the crossbow bolts were dulled as well, with some small Dust Crystals mixed in.

"What's the charge?" he asked.

"Four." Velvet said, the official nodding and patting her down.

"This is a fair fight, any outside tampering or hidden weapons are grounds for disqualification. If we order you to stop fighting, you will or you'll face ejection from the school." The referee reiterated, Velvet nodding and standing stiff as he finished his inspection for hidden weapons, turning to Arslan and doing the same. Velvet watched as the referee talked with Arslan, holding her left hand in his and asking Arslan question that the Beacon student couldn't hear. After a thorough inspection, the referee stepped and called for the buzzer, which quickly sounded to signal the beginning of the match.

At first, the excitement died down as they both drew their weapons just to stare at each other as the countdown timer ticked into the 29 minute mark, each small movement causing the other one to flinch and raise their guard. "I see you've got a new toy." Arslan commented with a slight smirk on her face. "Would be a shame if you didn't know how to use it." she said, without even taking a moment, stabbing her spear forward only for it to be parried away by a sideways strike by Velvet's sword.

"I'll manage." Velvet replied, lifting her arm over her head to swing her blade only to realize another stab was going for her face, she suddenly turned to the side, letting the spear fly past. Arslan suddenly lept into the air, closing the distance and slamming the tip of the spear into the ground to try and get an early KO. Arslan hit the ground, before looking up to find the Faunus missing.

"I feel annoyed Beacon isn't sending me their best. I wanted to fight Adel, not… you." Arslan said, not looking behind her and just sweeping the polearm around behind her, smacking Velvet in the ankle and sending her crashing to the floor, her sword bouncing a couple of feet away. Velvet scrambled for her blade, doing a handspring back on her feet just as another string of stabs tried to strike her in the chest, though she managed to dodge one, and parry the other two. Velvet said nothing in response, and just charged at the blond haired girl to try and get past her much superior range, only to see a flash of red feathers striking her chest and sending her sliding back with a dull pain in her chest. "This is to see who is the best in the world, I wanted a CHALLENGE!" Arslan shouted, lunging at the blue and black clad girl and slamming the spear into the ground in front of her, only to see Velvet balanced on the tip of the blade.

"Then I'll give you a challenge." Velvet replied, running along the blade and planting a boot into Arslan's shoulder, before using the momentum to kick her in the face. Arslan growled in pain, leaning back with the kick as Velvet flipped acrobatically over her head, landing just behind her and running to try and strike at the back of her head. Arslan caught a glimpse of this, flopping onto her back and pushing both legs into Velvet's chest for a hard kick in the chest, stopping her completely. She planted her spear into the ground, and tossed her with both legs into the air.

She stuck out the black clawed hand, small explosions firing from them as each claw fired a thin silk rope that wrapped around Velvet's legs in mid air. She yanked her arm, gripping her own forearm for support and slamming her back in the ground so hard her body bounced with an unnatural thud sound. "What challenge!?" Arslan shouted, pole vaulting into the air with her spear and kicking her in the face, sending Velvet to the floor with blood landing on the concrete from her bloodied nose. "Figures." Arslan said, turning away from the floored opponent and retracting the ropes attached to her claw gauntlet and slowly walking away.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder as she realized that a crossbow bolt was resting on the floor. She spun around on a heel to see Velvet standing again with a bloodied nose, firing at her with one hand holding the weapon. Her sword was being used to keep her balance as Arslan sighed out of anger, spinning her spear in her hands before pole vaulting herself again to try and finish Velvet off. Suddenly, Velvet raised her blade, causing them to clash with sparks as she reattached the crossbow to her hip and grabbed the blade with her other hand as they pushed together to see if one could outpower the other. Velvet glanced up at the clock, only seeing 5 minutes have passed before her view blurred some, that landing scrambled her head pretty hard, to be honest, for a second she forgot where she was.

The clash ended with more sparks as Velvet realized Arslan was stronger than she was. "I need to get past that blade if I ever hope to hit her… The closer I am, the better of a chance I got." Velvet spoke quietly to herself as her rival raised her blade, waiting for another attack. She ran at her with heavy steps, before picking up her speed and catch Arslan's strike with the side of her sword. " _Fighting is a dance… I'll make an opening._ " Velvet thought to herself, stepping in with her foot sideways before spinning the blade away from her, making a graceful leap forward until she was face to face and far too inside for Arslan to hit her again. She lifted an arm to wrap around the shaft of the spear, swinging her sword and striking her square in the face. She spun again, switching hands on the spear and diving past her to trip her onto the floor over one of Velvet's legs. She spun her blade, lifting it over Arslan's head to try and finish the fight, only for her to be kicked in the chest yet again, though this time just sending the Faunus back a couple of steps instead of launching her in the air.

Arslan stood back up, rubbing her hand up to her lip and rubbing from side to side to check for blood, though finding nothing yet. Arslan charged and unleashed a quick series of strikes to Velvet, causing her to keep stumbling back until she suddenly felt the edge of the arena. She managed to get her blade up high enough to start parrying each strike, the blades ringing in unison as the blades clashed over and over again. Velvet took a chance, running forward and sliding on her knees past the attacking student, reaching up and grabbing Arslan by the hair and pulling her to the ground. Velvet ran back to the center as her opponent smacked the ground with a fist before standing back up. Velvet dashed toward Arslan, knocking away a strike with the spear and using the sword's shorter length for faster swings, slashing at her legs, chest and head before grabbing her shoulder, going behind her and twisting her arm. Velvet then grabbed a crossbow bolt, loaded with electric Dust and stabbed it against the back of Arslan's neck. Sending electricity through her body and leaving her stunned and shaking. Velvet rolling onto her hands, grabbing the stunned Mistral student by each side of her head, flipping her over and driving her face straight into the floor which caused gasps from the entire crowd.

"An impressive headscissors takedown by Ms. Scarlatina! It looks like she'll be able to turn this fight around!" Glynda exclaimed.

"She's gotta follow up on it, though. If you can't follow up, you're just gonna lose faster." Ritters countered as Arslan stood in place, face pressed against the ground before slowly slumping onto her side. Velvet looked behind her, noticing that the dark complexion was replaced with a crimson mask as she was bleeding from her forehead. Velvet slowly stumbled to her feet, looking at the screen again and seeing both of them were in the yellow. Arslan got back to her feet, coughing a couple of times as she stayed balanced on her spear.

"This is where the real fight starts!" Arslan called out to the Faunus, who turned to look back at her while wiping off the blood coming from her nose onto her sleeve. Arslan leapt into the air, shooting her gauntlet at her and grabbing her by the neck with the thin wire, before winding it in and pulling herself toward the now frightened student. "DIE!" She shouted, before velvet cut the rope with her sword, causing her to just miss the flying spear aimed at her.

Arslan landed on her knees hard enough to crack the concrete beneath her, but Velvet took advantage of this and kicked her in the side of the head, sliding her across the floor with streaks of blood in the concrete. Arslan slapped the floor, getting back up and looking at Velvet as she stood there trying to catch her breath as she was almost just strangled. "Ahhh! She nearly got strangled! Get in there, ref! Disqualify Arslan!" Jaune shouted, eyes wide in shock, watching the vitals screen as much as the fight itself. He looked back at the fight to see each of them trading blows in the center, not even trying to block but only weaving out of the way of each other's attacks, Velvet stepping to the side and trying to flank her, only to be met by sweeping spear strikes trying to trip her up. But she leapt over each sweep until Arslan began spinning the blade in circles around over and over, changing the height each time to try and cash her dodging off by just an inch. She leapt, ducked, slid, rolled and tried to find an opening, only for the spear to strike at full speed into one of her knees, feeling it buckle and send her onto one knee. She charged at Velvet, grabbing an arm around her head and trying to choke her out with that arm, the other one grabbing her shoulder and pulling her close so she couldn't move.

"Goodnight, Rabbit." Arslan said, lifting the spear and smashing the shaft into the base of her skull, sending her to the floor with a gasp from the crowd, she glanced up at the life bar, only to be shocked by noticing it only went to the deep orange even though she appeared to be unconscious

"I gotta say, normally I'd make a joke about that but that was… kind of vicious. That Atlan girl has a mean streak." Ritters said, lacking the typical charisma of his voice.

"Will someone put an end to this? This is barbaric! She's killing Velvet!" Weiss cried.

"She's not dead. Her vitals are in the orange, so the match can continue." Blake said, watching the match carefully to see what Velvet's next move would be. Arslan was bewildered by the fact that didn't at least knock her out, but Velvet glared with sharp eyes at the angered Mistral girl, slowly getting on her feet as she finally regained focus. She reloaded her crossbow, firing a shot at the stunned girl's shoulder with a burning shot that caused her to flinch back, throwing it to the side so it wouldn't burn for too long.

"I'm not easy, I'm not a coward, I'm not weak... Damn it, I WANT TO WIN!" She shouted over at her, shooting another shot that singed Arslan's hair from barely missing.

"Prove it, then!" Arslan snapped back as Velvet assaulted her with a flurry of strikes that were too fast to block, slowly stepping back one step at a time as the dozens of hits bruised and even cut up her arms, which were being held in front of her to not cut her chest, neck or face. Suddenly, Velvet leapt up to kick her in the chest, sending her onto one knee. Velvet didn't relent, launching another flurry of nearly 5-6 kicks per second to her face and chest, pummeling her head and opening the wound even deeper, causing her head, arms and shoulders to recoil at each hit. Velvet lept back to finish her off with a boot to the chin, but Arslan grabbed her by the thigh. "I don't care if you want to win… I WANT IT MORE!" She lifted Velvet by that leg, over her head and slamming the girl face first onto the ground with another bounce. She slowly backed up, wiping the blood from her eyes. Velvet started to stand back up as Arslan dashed, leaping into the air and slamming both feet into the back of her head, crushing it back down an inch into the concrete floor and knocking her out instantly with a cracking sound.

"K.O!" the announcer called, the crowd going silent in shock as the official rushed out to check on Velvet, checking her pulse and seeing that she was still breathing. The referee waved to the back, signaling that Velvet was alive to the relief of the crew. The Faunus girl slowly came to, pushing herself onto her knees and taking pitched breaths. The crowd erupted in cheers, equally relieved to see Velvet had survived. Velvet struggled to get back to her feet, holding her head with one hand. Arslan offered her hand to Velvet, the Beacon huntress hesitating before finally taking it, Arslan helping her to her feet.

"And so the Lion killed the Rabbit… but the Rabbit managed to take out the Lion's eye…" Arslan said with a smile.

"...Huh?" Velvet asked, Arslan chuckling.

"You were fantastic, Velvet. I was worried my words would've cut into your drive, but they simply bolstered it." she said, not making any more sense to Velvet. "I wanted the best fight I could get out of you and I could tell that being nice wasn't going to get that out of you. If I pulled my punches, physically and verbally, you would've held back. If I had to be the villain to draw out your aggressive side, then so be it." Arslan explained, Velvet being taken aback by this when Arslan suddenly raised her arm, drawing further cheers from the crowd.

"Th-thank you…" Velvet said, smiling through her bloodied face. Arslan let go of the rabbit girl's arm, Velvet walking toward the arena's exit. Within seconds, she walked straight into a hug from Coco.

"Velvet, that was awesome! The physicality, the bloodshed, the adrenaline, the drama!" she exclaimed, Velvet seething a bit due to the pain.

"Anh… thanks Coco." Velvet said, smiling in spite of the pain. She had lost the fight, but she didn't care at the moment. Coco soon relinquished the hold as, Velvet seeing the rest of Team CFVY standing there, Fox walking over with a towel to halt the blood flow. Within seconds, the RSBLA and Team ANVL had rushed in with compliments and concerns.

"Velvet! Are you okay?!" Jaune asked, running up to her in a panic, paper white in the face and shaking.

"A bit dizzy and sore, but I think I'll be fine." Velvet replied.

"Don't put on a brave face, Velvet! You need medical attention! We've got to get you to the hospital!" Weiss said, grabbing Velvet's arm and carrying her off.

"Ow! N-no, it's fine Weiss. I'm -anh- just fine, really." Velvet insisted as the Schnee heiress began dragging her former servant away, Ruby giving an excited replay of the fight while they walked in her usual exaggerated manner with manic hand gestures.

"And then you jumped onto her blade and ran up it and kicked her in the face and it was awesome! And then you-" Ruby went on until Yang pulled her away.

"C'mon, sis. Velvet needs a doctor, not a recap." she said, Blake joining up with Weiss and Velvet and taking the rabbit girl's other arm, putting it over her shoulders.

"Ah! Blake, Weiss! Really, I'm fine!" Velvet said, Blake simply shaking her head.

"Cardin broke my nose and left me in bandages for weeks. You are not walking away from that fight without seeing a doctor." Blake said bluntly, getting the final word on the subject. They walked down the arena, meeting up with a group of medical transport with a stretcher, setting Velvet down and having her wheeled down, Ruby and Yang catching up with the other two.

"So, Velvet's heading for the hospital?" Ruby asked, Weiss nodding and smiling.

"Whether she likes it or not. How's ANVL?" Weiss asked.

"Jaune's still shaken up, but Pyrrha said they've got him covered." Yang replied, the Schnee heiress sighing.

"There's just no helping that boy, is there?" Weiss asked, shaking her head.

"So what do we do now? We haven't done anything for a few days, have we? Just watching the tournament and training Velvet…" Ruby said, Blake opening up her bag and pulling out a book.

"It's back to Vale for us." Blake said, making her way out the arena, Weiss and the siblings following her.

"Yep, vacation's over and we're going back to school. Professor Goodwitch is probably relieved to not having to sit next to Ritters for a long time." Yang commented, Ruby laughing a bit.

"I still can't believe that loon taught Pyrrha how to fight." Ruby said.

"Doesn't your trainer play with toys?" Yang shot back.

"That's different! You wouldn't get it, Yang! You were trained by dad!" Ruby shouted, Yang grumbling and grabbing her sister, giving her a noogie.

"Dad's a great teacher, you ungrateful little-" Yang began before Weiss finally broke out of her silence.

"Agh! Shut up, both of you! I can't hear myself think over your… sister stuff!" she exclaimed, the two sisters shouting back at her and starting a two-on-one argument between them.

"Guys…" Blake said, unheard over the shouting match behind her. "Ruby, Yang, Weiss…" she said, still no response. Blake sighed quietly and put her bookmark between two pages and slammed the book loudly, shutting everyone up immediately. "We're at the dock." Blake said.

"Ohhhh… well, that was fa-" Ruby said before the wheel in her head suddenly started turning. "Oh man! We forgot our bags at the hotel!" she said before bolting off toward the hotel with her sister, friend and Weiss in tow and leaving behind a very confused dock worker.

In the confusion, the dock worker didn't notice a young man climbing the ship's anchor. The man had a mop of messy blonde hair with matching shadow on his face and ocean blue eyes and most notable of all was the long, hairy tail sticking from his jean shorts which was holding a wrapped pastry. The Faunus boy climbed onto the ship, looking around to see if any workers had seen him make his climb, moving his tail over to his face to take a bite of pastry. To his luck, he wasn't spotted and nudged a nearby passenger. "Yo, you know where this boat's going?" the Faunus asked.

"Vale." she said, somewhat confused by a passenger who didn't know the ship's destination.

"Vale, huh? Never been there before, gonna have to see the sights… hey, you try one of these apple pies? They're really good." he said, reaching into a pocket on his open white jacket and with a soft crinkling sound, pulled out a small plastic-wrapped pie and tossed it to the helpful passenger. He walked off, limbs swaying left to right and head bobbing as if he were dancing to a song only he could hear.


	40. Shadows of the Past

Weiss groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, her lids heavy and her arms aching. "Anh… h-huh? Where am I…?" she asked groggily, looking around to only see darkness around her before a bright light flashed over her head. She let out a whimper as one indistinct shadow spoke to another one.

"News from Vale; They're in talks to transfer all the money we demanded into our account in exchange for the girl." A male voice spoke quietly, a female one replying.

"That isn't enough. We got what we wanted, but they still need to be punished for forcing our hand." the female voice responded, slowly walking behind Weiss as she slowly felt her ponytail being curled around her wrist until she felt a tautness in her scalp.

"What did you have in mind?" The male voice asked, Weiss hearing a dark chuckle behind her.

"We're going to send her home with a present." She replied with a slight chuckle in her voice, Weiss tried to turn her head, but the grip on her hair tightened and wouldn't let her turn her head. "Fear." She said bluntly, pulling her by the hair over the back of her chair, sending her to the floor with a cry of pain, she grabbed her by the face, glaring into her eyes. Weiss looked back up, seeing three figures now all looking at her.

"Remember this, Schnee. The pain will fade, but I want this to last _forever_." She whispered, gripping harder on her face, turning her onto her stomach and pushing a knee into the back of her neck.

"Apprentice… You know what to do." The male looked over to the side, Weiss managing to wriggle her head up to see a black figure with gold colored eyes and pointed ears. Slowly, the shadow of the gold-eyed figure began to draw closer, revealing a pair of sharp claws.

"N-no… no…" Weiss managed to say silently as the claws were dug into her back, suddenly, they ripped downward, slashing through the clothes and nearly cutting to the bone from the shoulders all the way to the hips, the pain so intense she screamed and nothing came out of her mouth.

"NO!" Weiss screamed, shooting straight up from her bed in a cold sweat. "I'm fine, I'm at Beacon, I'm fine, I'm at Beacon, I'm fine, I'm at Beacon." she muttered to herself, hands slapping lightly on her cheeks to get herself to calm down. She felt a sharp, familiar pain in her back, turning over to her clock to see what time it was. "Four in the morning… I think I can still get some more sleep if I-" her thoughts were cut off by a sudden burst of music coming from Ruby's bed nearby.

"IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" she exclaimed joyfully with huge puppy dog eyes, only getting a response of grumbling and pillows thrown at her.

"RUBY! What are you doing?! Some of us are trying to sleep!" Weiss screamed at younger Huntress, who had just jumped off her bed, seven pillows hitting the now empty bed, including Yang's.

"It's my 15th birthday! Which means I get to do 15 year old things which is a lot like 14 year old things when you think about it, in fact being 16 seems like it'd be a lot cooler, but I don't wanna wait that long! You're 16, Weiss. Is it as cool as I think?" Ruby said, Weiss just staring at her dumbfounded.

"I… you …wha.. I hate you." Weiss said, barely able to form words coherently.

"Ahhh, don't be such a sour lemon, Weiss! Isn't this how you celebrate your birthday?" She asked, leaning down to the white clad Schnee

" _No_." Weiss replied with a mixture of bluntness and incredulity, climbing out of her bed to stare at her.

"Why are you up at 4 in the morning? The bell's at 8…" she asked, pretending that she wasn't awake before Ruby.

"I wanna get the maximum amount of birthday possible!" Ruby replied.

"...Doesn't that mean you got up at twelve? That means you're running on four hours of sleep…" Weiss replied, Ruby nodding her head rapidly.

"And four cups of coffee! Now come on! We're burning daylight and-" Ruby said, Weiss cutting her off and pointing to the window, showing a dark blue sky.

"Daylight?! Ruby, look out the window, you dolt! The sun's not out! It's probably still noon in Mistral right now! What is wrong with-" Weiss began to shout, Blake grabbing Ruby's arm.

"Ruby… You are a plague on sleep." she said bluntly, walking off and dragging her out of the room, Ruby sliding along the floor before Blake opened the door, pushing the birthday girl out of the dorm. "You are not allowed back in until morning bell." Blake said, slamming the door shut in Ruby's face. Blake ignore the muffled cry of "But birthday!" as she walked over to her nightstand, pulling out a blocky black object, looking like an outdated calculator.

"What is that supposed to be?" Weiss asked as Blake walked over to the door.

"PassLock Security Pad. I bought it for my locker, but it works just as well to keep out loud people." she explained, putting the device onto the door next to the doorknob and dialing numbers, hearing the click of the door lock next to it.

"Magnetic Dust forces the lock shut without affecting the hardware. Impressive." Weiss said instantly, Blake smirking and walking over to her bed.

"Of course you'd know that…" she said, slumping onto the mattress and curling herself up.

After four hours of semi-peaceful sleep, the door opened as the girls in the dorm headed out, Blake and Weiss making their way to the outside. "So, you get anything for Ruby?" Blake asked, Weiss rolling her eyes.

"No. I didn't even know her birthday was today. And why should I know? She's been nothing but a pest. I don't know how you put up with her." she complained, Blake turning another page of her book.

"I put up with you, don't I?" she shot back, Weiss turning to scowl at her black-clad friend before turning back.

"Look, you two have been maintaining a relative peace, why not keep it going and join her on her birthday trip?" Blake suggested, but Weiss just sighed.

"Do I have to like it?" Weiss asked.

"Nope." the beret wearing girl said simply.

"Fine. But you're gonna owe me for this." Weiss said, pointing a finger at Blake.

"That's fine, now let's amuse a 15 year old until she leaves us alone." Blake replied, heading toward the door out of the school.

The two made their walk down to the gate out of Beacon where Yang and Ruby were standing, Ruby excitedly waving to them. "Alright! The Ruby's Super Amazing Birthday Squad is complete!" Ruby said, Yang looking surprisingly stone faced in light of Ruby's energy seeming to be at double its tolerable level.

"Well Yang, you're taking this rather well…" Weiss said, Yang shrugging and sliding her card into the reader.

"I've done 14 of these. It stops bothering you after a while." the older sister said back, Blake and Weiss sliding their cards.

"I.D. accepted, Yang Xiao Long, year 1. Blake Belladonna, year 1. Weiss Schnee, year 1. Have a -happy- -birthday- -Ruby-." The reader said, Ruby gasping in awe as the gate swung open.

"Oh my gosh! The computer knows it's my birthday! This is the _BEST_!" she said excitedly, Weiss leaning toward Yang to whisper in her ear.

"She's... A teenager right? A… _normal_ teenager?" Weiss asked, Yang blinking a couple of times before looking at her.

"This is going to be a long day, harden your heart and you'll survive." Yang replied jokingly, walking off to catch up to Ruby. "Jeez, can you stop running Ruby? You're gonna faint again!" She could be heard shouting as she ran into the distance, Weiss and Blake running to catch up to them.

"So Ruby, what are you gonna do for your big 15th birthday?" Weiss asked, Ruby quickly pulling a black notebook from her bag, opening it up and flipping through the pages.

"Aha! Here we go! Well let's see, first we'll have breakfast at Burgershire! They have these great grilled cheese sandwiches that are kinda like dad's!" Ruby began, Weiss tilted her head.

"Grilled cheese sandwich?" Weiss asked, the birthday girl picking up on her confusion immediately.

"Wait a minute… Weiss… you've never had a grilled cheese sandwich before?" Ruby asked, Weiss shaking her head. Ruby quickly pulled out a mechanical pencil, scribbling down the note 'Weiss is getting a grilled cheese" before moving on to the next part of her birthday plan.

"Then it's off to Rolling Thunder for the Party Pack! We get a discount which is good because my final exams stipend is running a little short. After a bit of skating, we're going to Tukson's Book Trade!" Ruby said, Yang groaning a bit.

"Oh joy, nothing says fun birthday like reading books…" the blonde said, Blake glaring at her from own book.

"I would strike you upside the head with this if it wasn't a Collector's Edition…" Silence fell on them, when a question entered the young heiress' head.

"...Wait, the last Kings and Pawns came out FOUR months ago! A new one hasn't come out yet!" Weiss said, her incredulity from the morning returning.

"This one is a rewrite with all the characters genders swapped, it's super interesting." Ruby said, Weiss staring in disbelief. "We won't be spending too long because if my timing's right, we'll get to the Vale Arena in time for VWA Edge of Eternity VI! Chance is gonna be defending tonight and Valerie got me tickets for my birthday!" Ruby said, flashing the tickets in her hand for the others to see.

"Oh no… you're taking us to see that so-called 'sport?'" Weiss said, making air quotes with her fingers.

"Hey, don't knock it until you've seen it. Besides, I get to hang out with my sister, my best friend. my… you… and my mentor in one day! It's gonna be awesome! We can grab dinner and sneak it in on the way there! I wonder if we can get a whole pizza into the arena without the guards noticing…" Ruby said, rubbing her chin in contemplation.

Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of nearby sirens and flashing lights. They turned to see a building that had been blocked off by police tape, the windows had been shattered and cops were looking over the scene. "I swear, it wasn't me this time." Yang said with a chuckle, Blake elbowing her in the side and shaking her head at the blond Huntress. "Eheheh… figure I'd lighten the mood a bit." she said as Ruby, overtaken by curiosity, walked closer to the crime scene.

Stand back, citizen. This is official police business." a police officer said as he walked over to Ruby.

"Ah! Sorry officer, I was just wondering what happened here." Ruby said innocently.

"Dust robbery. Fifth one this week." the cop said, turning to his partner who was talking with an eyewitness.

"Any idea who did this?" Blake asked as she walked up behind Ruby.

"That's police business. Confidential, we can't go telling anyone about this." he said simply, Blake reaching into her pocket and producing her student I.D.

"Would it be out of line to tell a Huntress in training? Maybe we could help." she offered, Ruby's eyes lighting up.

"Oooh! We get to be junior detectives! This birthday is gonna be more awesome than before!" she said enthusiastically, the police officer chuckling a bit.

"Okay, just don't go looking for them, okay? We've got two suspects. One is the Red Lantern Family, but Torchwick's has gone low profile since the amusement park incident." he explained, the joy in Ruby's face fading at the mention of Roman's name, Yang and Weiss joining up with the others.

"And the other suspect?" Weiss asked.

"Black Fang." the cop said, Weiss making a clicking sound with her tongue.

"Tsk. tsk. Of course those degenerates would be behind something like this." Weiss said, Blake shutting her book loudly.

"The Black Fang are not degenerates. They are a misguided group of Faunus protesters." she shot back, Weiss turning and glaring.

"Oh yes, they're misguided alright. They don't care if what they're doing hurts people, they just think we're trash!" Weiss began to complain, Blake slightly biting the inside of her cheek to not say anything. "Who in the hell thinks they can fix the world by stealing and killing and destroying everything?" Weiss said, Blake turning back to her.

"And how can you be sure that it was the Black Fang? Like the officer said, they're just suspects and Roman Torchwick's been here before. He probably sent his goons here and you're just going with what everyone else says about the Black Fang! You're misinformed, stop acting like you get it." Blake said, the bearded officer clearing his throat and interrupting the argument.

"Well… it's not that simple, see… whoever did this… left a calling card." he said, pushing the yellow tape aside and allowing the huntresses to look inside the building. Amidst the tossed shelves and shattered casings, on the back wall was a marking, sprayed on in black paint. It was a human skull with a knife sticking out of the top as if it were lodged in like a sword in its scabbard. Blake's eyes widened in shock as Weiss let out a "ha!" of satisfaction.

See? That's not the symbol of the Red Lantern Family." Weiss said smugly.

"Yeah… but it's not the Black Fang symbol either." Ruby said, catching Weiss and Yang off guard.

"The symbol of the Black Fang is a black wolf's head with bared fangs, I saw it back in the Zoo Quarter when one of their generals chased me down." Ruby explained. Blake nodding quickly.

"That's right. This isn't a Black Fang marking. If anything, it looks like we're dealing with a different group entirely." Blake said, Weiss sighing and shaking her head before walking away.

"Okay, so maybe it wasn't them here, but Ruby just said that a general of the Black Fang chased her through the Zoo Quarter and I do remember her coming back with a burnt hand." Weiss said.

"He probably didn't know she was unarmed and it's not like the Faunus of the Zoo Quarter don't have reason to be distrusting of humans. You of all people should know what humans do to Faunus." Blake snapped back.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked, turning her eyes to the beret-clad Huntress.

"You know damn well what I mean, you-" Blake began before Ruby put herself between the two.

"Hey! Hey! It's my birthday and I will not have friends fighting on my birthday!" Ruby stomped between the two of them to try and get them to stop arguing, though they just stared at each other.

"And how did the generals get their way into town? I bet someone from the Zoo Quarter snuck them in…" Weiss said, Blake immediately slapping her across the face.

"You have no idea what you're talking about! There were no generals here because the Black Fang weren't here! ...I'm going back to Beacon." Blake said in a huff, walking off.

"Blake! Wait!" Ruby cried, waving for her. Weiss stared at the floor, holding her face in shock.

"...Might have to raincheck the birthday bash, sis. Let's just get your books and go meet with Blake." Yang offered.

"Okay…" Ruby said sadly, making her way to Tukson's Book Trade, crossing items off her schedule. Yang put an arm around her sister, turning her head to Weiss as they walked along the sidewalk, leaving the abandoned Dust shop behind while Weiss stood outside it. "Hey Weiss, you comin' or what?" she asked, Weiss looking at her belt.

"Where is it… where is it?" Weiss muttered, the sisters coming to a stop.

"Hey Snow Queen, what's the holdup?" Yang called.

"My pouch has gone missing! I had it a few seconds ago! Where did it go?" Weiss asked, feeling a finger poke her shoulder.

"Yo. I think you dropped this." said a young man with a messy mop of blonde hair and matching stubble on his face with ocean blue eyes and a thin smile on his face. Weiss was taken aback by him for a few reasons. One was that he came out of nowhere. The second was his attire; comprised of an open, somewhat tattered white jacket that exposed his bare, ab-laden chest, a pair of jean shorts, red wrist bracers, black and yellow sneakers and a necklace with a Lien coin on it, a monkey crudely scratched onto the face of the coin. The third and most important was that instead of his hands, the young man was carrying the pouch in a long yellow tail that looked be coming from the back of his shorts.

"Ah… uh... th-thanks…" Weiss said, holding out her shakily, the monkey boy's tail releasing its grip on the pouch.

"No problem, babe." he said, giving her a smirk and a long, head turning wink before walking off, head bobbing and arms swaying from side to side.

"What just happened?" Ruby said, broken out of her stupor briefly by the sudden appearance of a guy with a tail.

"Nice abs… uhh, I mean! That was nice of him to give you your wallet back, Weiss." Yang said, Weiss simply blinking a bit before noticing something about her wallet.

"Hey wait a minute… this feels… lighter…" she said, opening it up and carefully shaking out coins to count them. "17...18...19… Ah! He took money from me! Police!" Weiss shouted.

"The price I pay for a lil' bit of kindness." the monkey boy said as he sat crouched on a nearby streetlight, throwing the coins into the air and catching them into his hand.

"Give those back, you no good thief!" Weiss shouted, pointing a finger at Sun.

"Heh! A no good thief would be sitting in jail! You're looking at the Monkey King of Thieves, Sun Wukong!" he said with a smirk, catching the Lien one last time before jumping off the streetlight, making a run for it.

"After him!" the Schnee heiress yelled, giving chase. Ruby and Yang quickly followed her as they searched for Sun. "Ruby! Yang! Split up! We can cover more ground! I'm not letting that rapscallion get away with stealing from me!" Weiss said, Ruby and Yang nodding and running off, Ruby taking the right and Yang going left. Weiss charged straight ahead, using her white glyphs to boost her speed and get closer. She soon spotted the self-proclaimed Monkey King of Thieves. "That's far enough, thief!" she exclaimed, Sun turning and chuckling.

"And how are you gonna stop me?" he asked, a black glyph forming under his feet. "Huh? What's th-" Sun said as the glyph moved closer up his body. Sun struggled against his bonds, Weiss smiling.

"Finally, something good to come out of a day like this…" she said in relief, looking to see the bound Sun begin to glow brightly, tuning into a yellow bright and shattering, the light fading away.

Ruby and Yang fared no better. While Ruby was able to catch up with Sun due to her speed and tackle him to the ground, he equally turned into light and vanished, leaving Ruby to fall onto the street."Uhhh, I think I just killed the thief." Ruby said, blinking a bit.

Meanwhile, Yang soon cornered Sun in an alley. "Look man, I'm not wanting to fight you. Just give Weiss her Lien back and we'll be cool, alright?" Yang said, holding up her fists.

"No can do, babe. Gotta eat to live and gotta steal to eat." Sun replied, matching her stance. "Besides, it was nowhere near enough for her to miss any of it, she's kind of loaded." he observed, Yang simply shrugging.

"Well, if we're gonna go…" she said, charging at him and going for a straight right, connecting and hitting hard. Sun immediately shattered into light before Yang's eyes. "Holy crap! My punch made a dude explode!" she said, stunned a bit before shaking it off, leaving the alley to meet back up with Ruby and Weiss.

"Guys! You're not gonna believe it! I had him cornered and then he-" Yang began, Ruby finishing her sentence for her.

"-turned into light and vanished?" Ruby asked, the older sister nodding.

"Great, so we lost the thief! What a fine day this is turning out to be!" Weiss groused, stomping off.

"Look, it's not like you're hurting for money, Weiss. A couple of Lien isn't anything to get mad about." Yang said, Weiss scowling as the sisters followed her.

"That's not the problem. The problem is he's probably a Black Fang agent or a recruit!" the Schnee heiress said.

"Isn't that going a bit far, Weiss? I mean, he was just a pickpocket." Ruby said.

"Don't be naive, Ruby! A string of Dust robberies around Vale and a Faunus, a thief no less, is walking around near the crime scene? He's working for them!"

"Yeah, but we don't know that it even is the Black Fang doing this. You're just guessing that it is." Yang argued, Weiss sighing in annoyance.

"Don't tell me you two agree with Blake about how the Black Fang are innocent…" she said sourly.

"We're not saying that, but you're jumping to conclusions without evidence." Yang shot back, Weiss simply walking further from the sisters.

"Forget it, I'm going back to Beacon." Weiss said, Ruby about to chase after her when Yang grabbed her shoulder.

"Forget it, sis. She just needs some time time for herself." she said, Ruby looking down at the sidewalk they were standing on, frowning.

"Hey, come on… they'll talk it out, they're friends. Friends fight but they turn out fine. Besides, you still got the whole birthday to yourself. Let's get some Burgershire, okay?" Yang asked, Ruby looking up with a small smile.

"Okay…" she said, the two heading off.

"Trust me, Ruby. This is gonna be the best birthday you ever had."


	41. Burden

In spite of the rocky start, Ruby's birthday was a great time; brunch at Burgershire, hours at Rolling Thunder skating while Yang played arcade games, stopping by Tukson's Book Trade for the first time and even getting a book Blake had ordered for her as a gift all capped off with Edge of Eternity VI, where Chance had retained his VWA Heavyweight title and Ruby got to hang out with him backstage. Now Ruby was on the back seat of Hornet, riding back to Beacon with her head high. "Today's been the best birthday I've had in years, Yang." Ruby said happily, holding on tight to her older sister.

"I can tell, I had to drag you out of that locker room or you two would've had all of Remnant built in there." Yang said with a smirk as she began to slow down. "We're coming up on the gate. There's just one more thing that will make today perfect." Yang said, Ruby looking at her sister.

"What's that?" the younger sister asked.

"Well, hang out with Blake and Weiss, like you said. It's been at least ten hours, they've had enough time to talk things over." Yang replied, stopping at the gate to swipe her and Ruby's I.D. cards.

The gate opened, the two heading back into the school and towards the dorm room, hearing Blake and Weiss yelling at each other. "They haven't talked things over." Yang said, nervously reaching for the door, turning the knob and opening it.

"Well you're clearly playing favorites, why does Velvet get treated with respect, but as soon as you catch wind that something -might- have been a Faunus, you get this uppity attitude like you can judge ALL of them?" Blake complained, arms crossed as Weiss was adjusting her bed.

"Because she lived with me, you idiot. We taught her how to behave like a normal human, not like the other Faunus understand what class is." Weiss called out, turning to glare at her.

"She was a slave. I don't give a damn if you were 'treating her well' but that ISN'T respect, it's dominion." Blake said, lifting a bag strap over her shoulder. "And if you're not gonna listen to reason, then I'm asking for a transfer." Blake called out, walking past Weiss and bumping into her shoulder.

"Wait a minute, I'm not done!" Weiss said, grabbing both of Blake's shoulders. "You don't understand what I'm trying to tell you!" she continued, but Blake struggled.

"Don't touch me!" She said, jerking away hard enough for her beret to fall to the floor. Blake stared at the ground, her eyes wide as she looked back up to Weiss, who was even more shocked than she was as she noticed Blake's ears.

"You…" Weiss barely said, but Blake knew exactly what Weiss just realized.

"Okay, okay okay okay! You two need to chill." Yang said as she stepped between them, pushing her hand on both of their shoulders so she can make some distance.

"IT WAS YOU!" Weiss shouted, Blake ducking under Yang, pushing the window open and leaping out of it before the Schnee could say anything else. "NO! No! Come back here!" Weiss shouted, running to the window and looking out it, only to see a shadow of Blake vanish into smoke. "Damn it!" she shouted, turning around to Ruby who just quietly pointed at the door.

"S-she went that way I think." Ruby said, in shock over what she just saw, Weiss running for the door and grabbing the knob. She tried turning it, only to find it locked. She looked to see the black, blocky PassLock resting next to the doorknob.

"Damn it! She locked us in! ARGH! Blake! Get back here!" Weiss yelled, pounding on the door before pulling back, tackling at it with her shoulder. Tears ran down her eyes as she hit the door repeatedly. "You're dead! When if I find you, Blake, you're DEAD!" she shouted through the door as Yang grabbed her, pulling her away and forcing her to look at the completely serious glare she had.

"Calm down! Look at me! LOOK AT ME!" Yang shouted, grabbing the sides of her face and keeping her eyes locked on the Schnee.

"W-what are you doing!? Blake! She's getting away!" Weiss shouted so loud her voice started to crack.

"You shut up and listen to me, Weiss! You are getting NOWHERE by panicking. I don't know what happened and I'm not gonna know unless you explain this to me!" She started talking over the panicked ramblings of Weiss, nearly completely ignoring her and repeating herself until the shouting stopped. "You're telling us what's going on… and then we'll figure out what to do next, okay?" Yang said, letting go of her head as Ruby just kind of watched, completely unsure of what to say.

"Wh-what am I supposed to say?! That m-my best friend in the whole school lied to me?! Th-that the only person I trusted was hiding the truth from me this… this entire time?!" Weiss said, stammering and crying. Yang sighed, rearing back her hand and slapping Weiss across the face.

"Until you tell me what's wrong with you, we're not going to leave this room. We're on the same side, Weiss. You better start making sense or I'll have you locked up in a clinic." Yang said somewhat harshly.

"F-fine…" Weiss said, shakily pushing Yang aside and walking unsteadily toward the window. "I-it all started back when I was twelve, thirteen… my family was on a business trip in Vale. I had always wanted to see the Kingdom and it was going to be Winter's last year with the family before she became a full-time part of the Atlesian Military, so father wanted to make it a special occasion. It was going great until I went to sleep in a five-star hotel in the Market Quarter… and woke up with my arms over my head by chains in total darkness." she began, rubbing her wrists as if the chains were tightening around them as she recalled them.

"The Black Fang had taken me from my bed, made me a hostage to ransom money from father. He agreed to their demands, but they left me… with a parting gift." Weiss continued, removing her jacket and exposing her bare back to the cool air filling the room. Ruby and Yang recoiled in horror at the sight of six scars running from Weiss' shoulders to her back, three on each side. "They wanted me to remember them… and I did. I remembered the one who did it. I remembered looking into their golden glowing eyes… and seeing their pointed ears… they were cat ears... " she said, Ruby's heart sinking and shaking her head.

"N-no… it couldn't be… it had to be someone else! There could've been another Faunus who-" Ruby spoke up, Weiss pounding her fist on the table.

" _IT WAS HER!_ It was her who made me live my life in constant fear! Made my father so desperate to keep me safe that I never left the house again unless I was under constant watch of armed guards! For five years I asked myself the same question over and over again. 'Why?' Why would someone want to hurt me? What did I do to deserve this? Why do Fauni hate me when I've done NOTHING to them?!" Weiss said, barely able to hold herself to the desk that stood by the window as fresh tears streamed down her face. Ruby, slowly and gently, walked over to Weiss and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Weiss… I don't know what to-" sh began before Weiss pushed her hand away, turning to see the white violin resting on her bed, having set it down during a session when Blake had come in to continue their argument.

"Why is she back? Does she want to make it worse? I didn't think it could be worse…" she said as she slowly walked over to the violin picking up and wiping away her tears with her arm. "All the time she stood by me, talked to me when no one else would, pushed me to work harder even when I wanted to give up… was it all just some sick joke?" she said, the sadness in her eyes slowly being replaced with anger and pain. She stomped over to the window, pulled back her arm and with all the strength she could muster, tossed the violin out the window.

"So… Blake was a criminal the whole time?" Yang asked curtly, her body beginning to glow a soft yellow.

"Yang, not you too!" Ruby said, shocked that her sister would believe this so quickly.

"Yes… a terrorist hiding right under our noses! I-I can't believe I fell for her lies!" Weiss said, voice cracking with each second.

"Then we're going to find her…" Yang said, punching the PassLock hard, shattering it and opening the door. Ruby was quick to run for the door, only for Yang to catch her by the cape. "Not you, Ruby. It's too dangerous for you." Yang said sternly.

"Yang! Blake's our friend! She's not gonna hurt-" she objected, her older sister putting a hand on her shoulder and bending down to meet her at eye level.

"Ruby, every time you've gone somewhere you shouldn't, you've gotten yourself in trouble and nearly gotten killed. From Dust Till Dawn, the Zoo Quarter, Red Lantern Pier. You even went into the forest a few years ago and almost ended up as a snack for a pack of Beowolves. This time, I'm putting my foot down. You're staying here until we come back with Blake. Weiss, toss me my gauntlets." Yang said, the Schnee heiress nodding and walking over to Yang's bed. She grabbed the golden gauntlets, throwing them to Yang with a pair of fire crystals before taking Myrtenaster from under her bed. Yang went over to the window, shutting and locking it in case her sister thought to jump out while they were gone before following Weiss out the door, locking that as well.

"Yang… Weiss… Blake…" was all Ruby could say as she made her way to her bed, burying her face into her pillow.

Blake, having caught the sight of the violin making an arc through the sky from the corner of her, ran toward the courtyard where the violin had landed, the neck having snapped off from the base upon landing. She bent down to pick it up and a felt a jolt of pain in her heart as she touched it. "Weiss… I-I'm sorry…" the exposed Faunus said, choking back tears as she stood up, holding the violin parts carefully and running toward the gate. She packed the violin into her bag, now needing a way to leave the school. Her card was useless without a second to accompany her and there was no way anyone was going to let her run away now that they knew the truth. "Maybe I should just go back… maybe I should just tell them the truth… maybe I- huh?" she was driven from her thoughts when her ears perked up at the sound of rustling leaves from a nearby tree.

Blake reached down into her bag, pulling out Gambol Shroud but keeping it sheathed for the moment. "Show yourself…" she warned, the rustling growing louder until a figure jumped out from the tree, landing in front of her.

"YEAOH!" exclaimed the tree-dweller, revealing a young man with a mop of blonde hair, matching facial stubble, ocean blue eyes and most curious to Blake, a long yellow tail sticking out from his jean shorts. After getting a good look at her fellow Faunus, Blake soon realized that he had just made a loud noise and ran over to him.

"Shhh! You'll give us away! Who are you, anyway and what are you doing here?" Blake said, going between the intruder and the school to see if anyone had spotted them.

"Yo. Name's Sun Wukong and I'm looking to take a tour around school. Didn't expect to see another Faunus around here. You got a name, kitty?" he asked, Blake glaring at him slightly before her eyes went wide with realization.

"Wait, you managed to get through that gate. Is there any way you could get back over it?" Blake asked, Sun looking up for a bit and scratching his stubble.

"Well, I just climbed over, ya know. And I can do it again. You can climb, right?" he asked casually, Blake about to speak when she soon remembered her gauntlet.

"You're right!" she said, reaching into her bag and grabbing a black clawed gauntlet that she put on her left hand. She pressed the button and launched the grappling claw out, sinking it into the tree, Sun letting out a long whistle.

"Not bad. I couldn't get that on my first try." he said as Blake shot herself into the tree with ease, Sun shrugging and running up the tree. "Gotta admit, I never thought I'd see someone try to run out of Beacon…" the monkey Faunus said, Blake sighing.

"It's a long story and I'd rather focus on running." she said, moving along the branch to find the way over the gate, leaping down once over and landing on her feet.

"Sun… thank you." she said, turning to walk away when she heard the leaves rustle behind her, Sun jumping down behind her.

"Heh, you think you're just gonna get rid of me with a 'thanks, bye' and leave it at that? No way, I'm sticking with you." he said, Blake taken aback by this sudden kindness. She smiled, glad to have someone she could trust at the moment.

"Thank you, Sun… why are you doing this?" she asked, Sun shrugging his shoulders again.

"Because you're pretty." he said with a grin, Blake's smile fading and replaced with an angry glare.

"...I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that and keep walking… follow me, but if you look at anything you're dead." she said as she walked off, Sun laughing and putting his hands behind his head as he followed her.

"The price I pay for a lil' bit of honesty…" he said as they took off for the streets. "So, where are we headed?" Sun asked, tail swishing back and forth as they walked along the quiet street.

"I have a friend in town who I'm hoping will take me in for the night. It's not safe for us out here at night." Blake said, keeping her eyes to make sure no one spotted them.

"Really? I mean, it can't be that bad around here." he said, Blake shaking her head slightly.

"It's complicated and I'm getting tired. I can explain more in the morning, but we have to keep moving." Blake answered vaguely as she soon sighted the familiar building of Tukson's Book Trade. She quickly ran for the door, banging on it rapidly. "Tukson! Open up! Tukson!" she shouted, hearing a clatter of noise from within the building and seeing the lights turn on, hitting her eyes with bright light and blinding her. Blake rubbed her eyes, opening them as the door opened to see Tukson standing in front of her with a loaded shotgun pointed at her face.

"This how all your friends greet you?" Sun joked, though Blake wasn't in the mood to laugh.

"Beat it! We're closed!" he shouted before suddenly noticing who he was aiming at. "...Blake, is that you?" he asked, taking his finger off the trigger, Blake nodding as Tukson lowered his gun. "Holy crap, why couldn't you just show up when the store is open?" he asked, Blake rolling her eyes and moving past him.

"Tukson, I need a place to stay. Things have gone wrong at Beacon. It won't be long and I'll pay you for it, but I just need somewhere safe…" she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"...You alright, Blake? You look like hell… and you're not wearing your beret. They kick you out?" he asked, Blake shaking her head.

"No, I left. It's a long story and I really just want somewhere to sleep…" she said, looking down at the floor.

"Alright, come on. You and your monkey friend who thinks he can hide books in his jacket can follow me." Tuskon said, putting a hand on Blake's shoulder and leading her to the back, Sun dropping the book in his hand.

"How did he spot me?" Sun asked himself as he followed them to the backroom. Inside the back was mostly stock; books that he had too many of, books that weren't selling, mail-in orders and damaged books. As they walked, Blake had to swat a book out of Sun's hand to keep him from pocketing it. They soon made it to the far end where a set of beds had been placed, pushed up against opposite walls.

"It's not a lot, but it gets me through the night." Tuskon said, grabbing a pillow and a sheet from one of the beds. "I can sleep at the desk for a few nights." he said, Blake smiling warmly.

"Thanks, Tukson. I promise I'll pay you back." she said, Tukson waving it off.

"Ahh, don't worry about that. You've spent enough on books. Just make sure your friend doesn't take anything." he said, heading for the front of the store.

"Will do." Blake said as she lied down on the bed, Sun jumping onto his bed.

"So, why are you leaving Beacon? I ain't been around here long but I hear that's kind of a big deal for a Faunus to get into that school." Sun said, Blake sighing and turning her head away.

"I really don't want to talk about this." she said bluntly.

"I'm just curious as to why we're in the back of a bookstore right now. What happened? Why leave? Did you hurt someone? ...Kill someone?" Sun asked.

"Well… I did hurt someone, but before I go on any further, I have a question for you, Sun." Blake said, sitting up and turning her head to Sun, who had tossed his jacket for the night.

"Shoot."

"...Have you ever heard of the Black Fang?" she asked, Sun scoffing slightly in disdain.

"Yeah, I heard of them. Bunch of holier-than-thou lunatics going around and attacking people who look at them funny. They run rallies in Vacuo all the time and rumor is their leader is hiding out there in their own private encampment. No one's ever found them, but that's probably because the camp's said to be in the Serpent's Spine, a mountain range that's way out west and believe to be watched over by a giant Grimm." Sun said, Blake taking in his thoughts on the group.

"...I used to be in the Black Fang." she said, Sun's eyes widening. "Before you say anything, I defected and struck up a deal to live here in exchange for information, but well… my past caught up to me." Blake said, Sun calming down.

"Your past caught up to you? ...They didn't find you, did they?" he asked, taking a look toward the hallway, looking as though he expected Black Fang members to come pouring in.

"No, they didn't find me… when I was young, I had a mentor. Adam. He kept me safe back when I first arrived in Vale after my village was destroyed by Grimm. Adam stood by my side no matter what, taught me how to fight and was going to bring me into the White Claw. I had always been at sit-ins and rallies, but I was never an official member of their ranks. But one day he told me that the White Claw had lost their way. They went soft on humans and that we couldn't stay with them. Humanity needed to pay for its sins. For a while, I turned a blind eye to all that we were doing. I thought we were helping our kind, making life easier for Fauni everywhere… but that started to fall apart when we kidnapped her…" Blake said, taking in a deep breath in the hopes of not crying outright as she thought of that night. The night when she dug her claws into Weiss and left her with those scars. The night that would haunt her for what felt like the rest of her life. "Look, it's getting late and it hurts too much for to talk about that night. I'm sure you want to know more, but I'd rather just try and sleep, okay?" Blake pleaded, Sun nodding and stretching.

"Okay, we'll save it for morning. G'night, Blake." Sun said, grabbing his jacket to use as a makeshift sheet and laying his head down on the remaining pillow.

Blake pulled herself under the covers, shutting her eyes but unable to sleep. She kept thinking of that night five years ago, her final mission with Adam a year ago, joining Beacon under the pretense of being human, meeting Weiss on the shuttle to Beacon, Cardin breaking her nose and knocking her out, Weiss' apology, her first Renewal in Beacon and finally… her day spent arguing with Weiss and the look on Weiss' face when she saw the ears. Blake quietly sobbed into her pillow, wanting the day to be over.


	42. The Docks, Part 1

Ruby found herself unable to sleep, tossing and turning before finally pushing off the covers and going for the door, still finding it locked. "Come on… there's gotta be a way I can… aha!" she said, running over to her nightstand and grabbing her phone, quickly calling Jaune. "Come on… Pick up, pick up, pick up!" Ruby said, tapping her foot as she soon got an answer.

"Ruby! I was sleeping! I just fell out of my bed!" Jaune said in exasperation.

"Oh good, you're up! Jaune, I need you to unlock Weiss' private room!" she said, a period of silence meeting her before Jaune answered.

"Do you have to go to the bathroom? Am I just your servant now?" he asked, Ruby groaning a bit.

"No! Yang locked me in here! She and Weiss are going after Blake and I need to find her before they do! Hurry!" Ruby said, quickly hanging up and pacing through the room until she heard the click of the lock.

She turned to see her savior standing there, eyes heavy with dark rings, hair sticking up on end, wearing a worn-out Valor Arc shirt and pajama pants with pictures of kittens on them. "There…" he said with a half mumble as he was clearly still tired. "Thanks, Jaune! Now come on! We gotta find Blake!" she said, Jaune yawning as he spoke.

"Ruby… I can barely even find this room because I'm so tired… You sure this can't wait 'til tomorrow?" he asked, Ruby stopping at the doorway and nodding. Jaune was in no condition to mount a search operation for a lost puppy, let alone a fully-grown woman.

"Okay, I'll meet you tomorrow morning at the gate. Until then, I'll be on my own." She said, gently pounding her fist against her open palm. Jaune nodded slowly and shuffled his feet along the floor back to his bedroom, head down and swaying from left to right. Ruby made her way toward the gate, stopping to grab a cup of coffee from the kitchens and running for the entrance.

Blake slowly opened her eyes, groaning a bit as she smelled the scent of cooked fish. "Morning, Blake. Got you guys some breakfast." she heard Tukson's voice say as he walked closer to the back room. She rubbed her eyes to see him carrying a small paper bag with the Burgershire logo on it. She turned to see Sun asleep and snoring loudly on his bed.

"Thanks, Tukson. You really didn't have to…" Blake said, Tukson setting the bag down and pulling out cardboard boxes with sandwiches, paper bags of fries and two chocolate shakes.

"Eh, I was getting breakfast anyway and figured I'd get you guys something too. Didn't know what Sun wanted, but I knew your favorite." he said, handing Blake a box with a fish filet sandwich inside, Sun soon came to at the smell of food.

"Yo. Something smells great." Sun said groggily, grabbing a handful of fries and stuffing them into his mouth.

"Good morning to you too, Sun…" Blake said, blinking a bit and biting into her sandwich, Tukson getting up and heading for the front with the bag that carried his own breakfast.

"So, you've had a bit of time to sleep. You mentioned a kidnapping, right?" Sun asked, Blake nodding and finishing her bite of sandwich.

"Mhm. A twelve year old Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee family. They wanted to get a ransom for her and once they got it… they told me to leave her a parting gift…" she said, looking down at her hands and sighing. "At the time, I didn't really understand why we had to do this. I didn't want to, but Adam told me that she was part of the system that held us down, that she was a slave driver just like her father so I went through with it. But it was the start of a change. More and more I began to question Adam, question what we were doing, whether it was right. And Adam became more aggressive and less responsive with each question. He told me that weakness such as mine would just make it easier for humans to control me. And I believed him until our final mission together." Blake said, stopping to drink her shake.

"And what happened on that mission?" Sun asked.

"Two things. One was that he had abandoned me to deal with the Atlesian Knights sent to take us in. For all his faults and all he had become, Adam was always loyal to me and would never leave me behind. And then he ordered me to kill a train worker. Over time, it was harder and harder to find excuses to justify my actions… it was hard to even feel like I was 'right.' Righteous fury just slowly turned into violence and anger, we were just as bad as the humans. And when Adam told me to kill that scared young man, I knew he was changed. As militant and violent the Black Fang was, Adam made sure that I never had to draw blood… and so, I left and joined Beacon. I posed as a human and I met Weiss and even became friends with her… I guess it was my way of trying to make things right. But last night I threw it all away. We argued for hours and when the beret I used to hide my ears came off, she saw and she remembered the beast I was…" Blake said, pulling her knees close to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs.

"Man.. this is some heavy stuff… wish I could say something a bit more comforting." Sun said, Blake sighing and forcing a smile.

"It's fine. Just listening is enough. Thanks, Sun." she said, taking another bite of sandwich and thinking.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Sun asked, waiting until Blake swallowed and could speak again. Blake pulled a piece of parchment out of her bag, unraveling a map of Remnant.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to see about boarding a ship out of Vale. I can't stay here now that people know who I really am. I can't go to Atlas due to General Ironwood's ties with Professor Ozpin and with it being Schnee territory, they'd have every reason to hunt me down." Blake said, pointing at the northern kingdom.

"You could try Vacuo. They're lax about Fauni living among humans. Plus, it's my home so I'd be able to show you around, get you used to the sand." Sun offered, Blake shaking her head.

"There'd be Black Fang in Vacuo too and they hate defectors. If Direwolf's compound is really there, then I can't risk them finding me. So that just leaves Mistral. We'll buy two tickets for the next ship to Mistral and go our separate ways when we hit land." Blake said, Sun shaking his head.

"Nah. That wouldn't work. If you're as wanted as you say you are, then the cops will probably be watching the docks and shipyards. Not full shutdown, but they'll know you're coming before you do." Sun said.

"I've gotten past security plenty of times, there's a reason why they had me in infiltration." Blake countered, Sun nodding and scratching his chin.

"Alright then... we head out tonight, then?" Sun asked, Blake nodding and heading for the front to tell Tukson their plan. As she walked, her ears perked up as she heard the familiar voice of Ruby. Blake stopped in her tracks, hearing Ruby and Tukson talking for a while before hearing the sound of the front door opening and closing. She held her breath, not wanting to move until she was sure Ruby was gone. Tukson opened the back door, seeing Blake standing there.

"Ruby and her blonde friend are gone." Tukson said, Blake exhaling in relief.

"Blonde friend? ...Oh, you must mean her sister." Blake said, Tukson scratching his head a bit.

"Sister? But they look nothing alike." Tukson said.

"Different mothers." Blake responded, Tukson taking a look through the back door to double check if they were gone.

"Pretty masculine-looking sister…" Tukson said absentmindedly.

"Yeah, Yang is a bit more built than-" Blake began, Tukson cutting her off.

"Wait, Yang? Then why did Ruby keep calling her 'Jaune'?" Tukson asked, Blake's eyes going wide with realization.

"Oh. Ohhh… yeah, no. Jaune's not her sister. And he's not a girl… anyway… Tukson, do you know when the next ship to Mistral is coming in?" Blake asked, Tukson nodding slowly.

"Yeah, there's one coming tonight, but what's going on, Blake? Why were Ruby and Jaune looking for you?" he asked.

"They found out. I need to leave Vale quickly." Blake explained, Sun finishing his breakfast and walking up to join the two.

"I'm gonna be joining her. Vale was cool for a while, but there's too much melodrama going on for my tastes." Sun said, Tukson letting a small, bitter laugh.

"Heh, you think this is bad? You should see what it's like when you're not honorary." Tukson said as he headed for the front of the store, Blake and Sun following them.

"Honorary?" Sun asked, tilting his head.

"Sun, you ever wonder why there aren't many Fauni walking around Vale?" Blake asked.

"Well, not until you said it…" he replied.

"It's because they have a place for us. The Zoo Quarter. Here in Vale we live as second class citizens and kept in the slums. The few that 'prove themselves' are given status as honorary citizens by the kingdom. They're given limited rights depending on the one who gave them that status. It's just a more bureaucratic form of slavery." Blake explained as they followed Tukson to the front.

"That's messed up, I wonder what got them so wound up on Faunus being in the city?" Sun asked.

"It's a long story… to keep things brief, war tends to burn bridges rather than build them." Tukson said, grabbing a clipboard off the counter. "Anyway, you guys wanted a ship going to Mistral. I've got a shipping schedule and there's a shipment of Dust coming in at 3:00 P.M. It's a bit risky, sneaking onto a ship in the afternoon. Think you can manage to get on?" he asked, Blake nodding.

"I've done harder." she answered, Sun nodding in agreement.

"Ain't been caught yet." Sun bragged, Blake chuckling and turning to the back to ready her bag.

Weiss and Yang were catching their breath as they hid inside an abandoned building within the Zoo Quarter. The two had headed there in the hopes of finding Blake hiding among the locals. However, the combination of Yang's temper and Weiss' status made them immediate targets, so the two had to be on the run. "Okay… so maybe she's not in the Zoo Quarter…" Yang said, clutching her chest slightly.

"I knew this was a bad idea! We're never going to find Blake at this point!" Weiss said angrily, kicking a nearby can in frustration.

"There's gotta be something we're missing here… she's not in the Zoo Quarter, maybe we should've gone to Tukson's Book Trade." Yang suggested, Weiss shaking her head.

"No, that'd be too obvious. If Blake wanted to hide, she wouldn't go to a place she'd go to regularly…" Weiss said, pacing the room before stopping and snapping her fingers. "Wait.. that's it! What if she isn't trying to hide? What if she's trying to run? She talked about getting a transfer before her beret came off… she's trying to get herself out of Vale!" Weiss said, Yang thinking for a bit before nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, but how would she be able to get out of Vale without the authorities spotting her?" Yang asked.

"Well, the authorities don't know she's gone yet. The only ones who know are us and Ruby. And as for where she'd go… well airships are out of the question and the only other way out of the kingdom is by sea. She's probably going to the docks. So we have to get to the docks before she does." Weiss said, Yang nodding and checking the window.

"Coast is clear, let's get moving." the blonde said, the two leaving the abandoned building and breaking into a run.

Blake and Sun made their way to the docks, standing on the roof of a nearby building just before the fence. "Okay, so which one's going to Mistral again?" Sun asked, Blake putting a hand to her chin and thinking carefully.

"Tukson said it was the Crimson Drake. We can hide in a shipping crate and get ourselves loaded onto the ship. The hard part is probably gonna be jumping the fence." she said, checking her watch to see it was reading 2:30. "We've only got a half hour. We're gonna need to move fast." Blake said, pulling out her clawed gauntlet and putting it on. She carefully aimed the glove, looking to hit the top of a shipping crate. She let out the grappling claws, the claw sinking into the crate.

"You do this a lot?" Sun asked, Blake nodding grabbing his hand.

"Hold on tight, monkey boy." she said as she began to wind the gauntlet in, running to keep from having her arm get pulled off. Sun ran with her, the two jumping off the roof and gliding down onto the roof of the crate. "Keep quiet and they won't know we're here." she whispered.

The two moved carefully along the crate, looking for an open crate to hide themselves into. "Nothing here…" Blake said said, jumping onto the next crate, stopping to see if anyone heard them. The noise of the shipyard proved an adequate cover for them as Sun joined her. They went from crate to crate, Blake coming to a sudden stop when she spotted something in the distance.

"Yo, Blake. What's the hold-up?" Sun asked as Blake looked down, frozen in place.

"No… they're here…" she said quietly.

"They're here? How did your friends find us that easily?" he asked, Blake shaking her head.

"No… worse…" she said, Sun turning to see what Blake had spotted. A quartet of people in Grimm masks walking through the docks. A worker went up to them, wanting to tell them to them to leave only for the one in an Androcleo mask to immediately pull out a pistol, shooting him in kneecap and sending him to the floor before shooting him through the back of his neck, making him choke to death on the floor. Blake quickly opened her bag, pulling out her phone and turning it on.

"Whoa! Did that guy just- Blake, who are these guys?" Sun asked, watching in shock as as more workers ran up to the four, either to tend to their dying friend or to try and fight the intruders. Blake dialed Ruby's number, Ruby picking up in a second.

"Blake! I've been trying to call you! Yang and Weiss think you're a criminal and-" she began, Blake looking to see if she had been spotted by the four intruders.

"Ruby! Ruby, listen to me! I'm at the docks! No, I need you to call the police! Weiss… Weiss was right! The Black Fang are here!" She called out in a panic when suddenly a bullet ricocheted off the crate, flying into the air spinning.

"Blake! What was that?! What's going on?!" Ruby shouted through the phone, Blake turning to see the masked gunman firing in various direction.

"Don't worry about me! Get the police! Get Professor Ozpin! Hurry before they-" Blake said before she heard the sound of a bullet whiz by, shooting the phone out of her hand.

"Oy! Whoever's watching, stop being such a wuss and get down here already!" the gunman shouted, aiming at the crate where Blake and Sun stood.

"Well… looks like they spotted us…" Sun said, teetering towards the edge of the crate only to hear the sound of a hard punch.

"Jin, stop wasting bullets, you lunatic! There's no one up there!" shouted another voice, Blake going into her bag for her weapon within seconds of hearing the voice.

"We fighting?" Sun said, unhooking a long staff from his back.

"If the four generals are here, we're going to have to… on three. One, two… three!" Blake said as she jumped down, Sun jumping after her. The two rolled along the ground, landing in front of two of the Black Fang generals.

"Hah! Knew there was someone up there, Adam!" Jin said cockily, the general clad in a King Kuja mask glaring right at Blake.

"Traitor..." Adam said as unsheathed his claymore, Blake moving back and moving Gambol Shroud in front of her.

"Adam… you've got a new general." Blake said, Sun watching them while keeping a close eye on Jin. People in reptilian Stalker masks ran around the docks, forcing open crates and taking whatever Dust and weapons they could find while Adam and Blake kept their swords drawn around them.

"Things have changed since the year you left, Blake. Jin has proven himself more than worthy of being a general while you had sold yourself out to the humans." he answered coldly.

"Sounds about right that an unhinged psychopath like Jin would be considered general material." Blake shot back, Adam scowling and moving closer.

"You made a huge mistake coming here, Blake. You were always a good apprentice, but you and I both know you and your little shirtless friend aren't going to be enough to fight us all off." Adam said, Blake tightening her grip on her sword's hilt.

"I'm not running from you, Adam." Blake said, palms sweating as she circled her old friend, keeping Jin in her sight.

"Just want to cut in here, I think it would be a complete joy if we just cut off your head and hang it from a post in the middle of the city just for messin' with us and thinking you can get away with it." Jin said, spinning one of his pistols in his hand. Though Blake couldn't see his face underneath his mask, she could imagine the sick smile on it as he said that.

"No, not yet." Adam said to Jin before turning back to Blake.

"The Black Fang doesn't forgive traitors, Blake." Adam said as he circled Blake.

"You're not the one who I want forgiveness from…" she spat back, Jin letting out a low growl before drawing his pistols.

"That's it! Enough talk! Let's just splatter their brains and get back to the heist!" he shouted, turning his guns on Blake and Sun.

"Jin! Drop your guns!" Adam yelled, turning his attention back to his comrade.

"To hell with that, Adam! You're just wasting time with all this chit-chat! Two shots is all I need to- anh! What the?" Jin said as his hands and pistols were suddenly encased in ice. The four Fauni came to a stop.

"Calvary's here." Sun said in a singsong voice, smiling and turning to look behind him.

Blake turned her head as well, taken aback at the sight of their savior, eyes wide and jaw dropped. Standing in front of them, blade of her sword glowing white and surrounded by mist, was the last person Blake had wanted to see when she had woken up that morning but now was the person she was most grateful to see. Weiss glared at the Black Fang generals, slowly stepping toward them with Myrtenaster outstretched. "You think you can step into MY town and cause trouble?!" Weiss said, slashing at the air. "And now you think you can kill MY friend? Well, you've just made a very big mistake…"


	43. The Docks, Part 2

"And YOU!" Weiss said, turning her sword to Blake who quickly stepped back in shock. "Do you have any idea how long we looked for you?" she asked, Blake stammering out a broken response.

"I… uh… wh-wha…?" Blake said, blinking in confusion.

"Twelve hours! Twelve hours of searching through half of Vale to find you! And now I find you here at the docks in a fight with the... Black… Fang… Blake, I have just one question… can I trust you?" the Schnee asked, Blake breaking her stupor.

"Of course you can trust me." Blake answered, Weiss smiling and turning to the generals. "These guys are serious… We could both die here. We need to hold out until more help can arrive so… Don't try to win, just humor them." Blake said quietly, Weiss nodding as Jin was crouched, smashing the ice block on the pavement to break his hands free.

"Weiss! I told you to wait up!" came a new voice from behind, Yang rushing up to Weiss

"They had guns aimed at Blake, I couldn't stay and let them shoot her." Weiss explained before turning back to the two generals. "Well, Blake. Looks like we have the numbers advantage. I think we may have a chance of winning if we divide and-" Weiss began confidently before another general, wearing a Nevermore mask, charged right at her with a straight sword and clashing with Myrtenaster.

"Anh! Y-you… you're here too?!" Weiss said, alarmed at both attack and the familiar mask of her attacker. The last time she had seen that mask, the attacker had given Weiss the scar over her eye, so Weiss found herself off guard and quickly disarmed by the general.

"So, you have seen my face before…" said the soft-spoken voice from the mask as the general held the sword's tip Weiss neck. "Ah, of course. My brother wore this mask before me. He left you that scar before he was captured by your police and killed. He died for our cause, so will you die for yours, Schnee?" she asked, Weiss standing still, her fists tightening and shaking.

"HEY!" Ruby shouted as she landed from the air, kicking the Nevermore general in the face and knocking her to the ground.

"Ruby! What are you doing here?! I told you to stay out of this!" Yang shouted, aghast at her coming in out of nowhere.

"Blake called for help! So I told Jaune to get the cops while I came here. Now shut up, we're being heroes!" Ruby said with a smile, unfolding her scythe and quickly charging at Adam, who had been caught off guard by the sudden appearances of three other Huntresses and was an open target. However, her scythe was blocked by the last general, decked in a Cama mask.

"So we're fighting a bunch of girls and a monkey boy, I let my eyes wander off for an entire minute and you three get into this?" The clearly older General complained as Ruby slowly started to back closer to her friends.

"Seems like it. Let's get rid of them before Torchwick shows up." Adam said, a sudden jolt of fear, surprise and confusion hitting the Huntresses. Sun was also confused, but for very different reasons as he leaned over to Yang.

"Yo. Who's Torchwick?" he whispered, Yang rolling her eyes a bit.

"He's a criminal who runs his own crime family." she explained.

"And he's a human." Blake said fiercely, turning her eyes toward Adam. "So, you all want me dead for leaving the Black Fang, but I still fight for the rights of the Fauni. How can you side with scum like Torchwick and say you still fight for our cause?" Blake asked, gripping her sword tightly and moving closer to her former mentor.

"United by a common goal. Isn't that what you wanted, Blake? Equality? Humans and Fauni standing together in unity?" he said with a note of venom in his words.

"What we realized is the problem isn't with the people, it's with the system. The Red Lanterns and us? We both want to destroy it and start over." the Cama-masked General said.

"And those who fight for the system that keeps us down are our mutual enemies." said the general in the Nevermore mask, tossing aside her mask to reveal long blonde hair and light blue eyes.

"So now you gotta die! C'mon, Adam! We gonna spend all day reading the speech you wrote or are we gonna get some action?!" Jin asked, Adam chuckling and charging right for Blake, raising his sword up to bring down on her with her quickly blocking. The blonde jumped at Weiss, the two clashing while the Cama-masked general went for Ruby, who quickly dodged. Jin cracked his knuckles, cackling maniacally "Heh, looks like I get the fun part. Two bodies for the price of one! Only one question, open casket or closed?" he said as he grabbed his pistols, running for Yang and aiming.

Yang dodged his shot quickly, rearing back her fist and going for a punch. She hit him straight in the chest but rather than sending Jin off his feet, she felt the shockwave bounce back to her. "Anh! Damn it!" Yang cried, grabbing her wrist and wincing, Jin laughing his head off.

"Hah! You think I'm worried about your little gloves?" Jin asked, throwing off his jacket, showing that part of his chest was covered in metal which soon began to sink into his skin. "My Semblance is steel skin! I'm the ultimate shield! Go on! Throw another one of your little punches!" Jin said with another round of laughter, Yang growling and going right at him. She punched him again and again, only receiving metal in reply. Her only successful hit was one to his face, breaking his mask and revealing his curly gray hair, dull blue eyes, black stubble and white tiger ears with black jagged stripes. "My turn!" he shouted, slamming his knee straight into her ribs, before she can even recoil, Jin grabbed a fistful of her hair, spun all the way around and tossed her to the asphalt hair first. He lifted his right foot, ready to stomp down on her when he heard a cry of "Vacuo Kick!" from his right, turning to see Sun's knee slam right into his face, dropping him onto the pavement.

"YEAOH!" Sun bellowed, arching his back as far it could go grabbing his staff. "Alright, little tiger, you wanna dance? Let's dance!" Sun said, standing in front of of Yang, his feet in constant motion. Sun leapt upward, trying to land a series of kicks to the face only for it to be shrugged off by Jin currently stuck in laughter. Sun flipped over behind him, sweeping his leg with the staff and tripping him to his feet. "Knew it! You can only use your semblance if you see the attack." Sun said with a grin, suddenly pole vaulting onto his staff and landing both knees into his face, sending it crashing into the asphalt. "That was easy." Sun chided, before he felt the tight grip of a leather clad hand around his ankle, tossing him to the ground as he stood back up.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Jin said, pushing a boot to his throat with enough force to make him start to gag for air. He leaned down, pushing the barrel of the revolver to his forehead. "Time to make some street art with your brains!" Jin shouted, but Sun kicked his leg up between Jin's legs, hitting him in the groin and forcing the gun to miss, a bullet going into the monkey's shoulder instead.

"YOU… STUPID... " Jin complained, stepping away a couple of feet as Sun grasped his shoulder, feeling the blood leaking into his fingers as he grit his teeth.

"I got another one, if you feel like having seconds." Sun said, spitting on the floor before using his good arm to hold the staff, charging at him again before Jin out of anger, grabbed the staff, used his semblance on his legs and broke the staff cleanly with his knee. He then stabbed the broken staff into Sun's good shoulder, piercing all the way through with a scream of pain.

"And here comes the backfists!" He said, forming metal around his arm and spinning in place, smashing the back of his hand into Sun's head over and over again until he spilled to the ground completely unconscious.

"What a waste of time…" Jin said, pointing the gun at the unconscious monkey's head. Suddenly, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his back and squeeze his neck.

"No you don't! He might make a crappy thief, but I'm not letting you get away with murder!" Yang shouted, trying to choke the his neck and make him pass out, though Jin just protected his neck and shook her off, firing shots blindly toward where Yang was standing.

"Do you have fun being a bitch!?" He said, a stray shot grazing under one of her eyes. Yang charged, her gauntlets both smashing into his stomach so hard it caused a shockwave, sending him flying through a shipping crate and flying out the other side before stopping.

"You talk too much…" Yang replied, taking a couple of deep breaths before turning to Sun, noticing that he was impaled and dropping to her knees to see if she could tend to him. She bent overtop, grabbing the pole arm and yanking it out. "Gotta think fast…" Yang said, igniting a gauntlet and pushing it firmly against the unconscious Sun's wound, halting the bleeding with a rather awful smell and disgusting searing sound. "Did I just do that?" she asked, when suddenly she felt something push against the back of her head.

"Bitch! Bitchbitchbitchbitchbitch!" Jin shouted, smashing her head into the concrete and stomping onto it over and over again until she was not able to move, he then turned her around, her eyes rolling in the back of her head. "I hate the both of you, so can you do me a favor and DIE!?" He shouted, shooting both revolvers at her face, only for them to click. "Oh COME ON! I'm out of ammo!?" He sighed in frustration, throwing the guns aside and storming off.

Weiss and Alyssa clashed once more, Alyssa pushing the heiress further back "Jonas protected me! He raised me after my parents died! And you took him away from me! They killed him to protect you! They killed him because you're a Schnee!" she yelled, pushing Weiss back. Weiss dug her heel into the ground, pushing against Alyssa's blade.

"And your brother tried to kill me because I'm a Schnee! What makes him right and me wrong!?" Weiss shouted back, spinning the chamber of her sword. The chamber landed on a light purple crystal, Weiss pressing the trigger. "Blitz!" she shouted, lighting arcing the blade and her hair snapping out of its ponytail, standing up on end. Alyssa moved back, attempting to dodge only to suddenly find herself trapped, a black glyph wrapping around her body and binding her in place.

Weiss stabbed Alyssa's chestplate, blasting her with a heavy bolt of lighting and sending Alyssa flying, Weiss setting down a series of white glyphs that she ran on, boosting her momentum as she ran for her target. Alyssa soon felt her body come to a stop, turning to see a blue glyph which immediately shot her back into the waiting tip of Myrtenaster, Weiss landing a second strike that sent Alyssa to the ground. "Zwei!" she shouted, moving in for a third strike only to suddenly find herself unable to move. She looked down to see herself surrounded by one of her own black glyphs. "Wh-what the?!" Weiss said, confused as Alyssa pulled herself back to her feet. 

"Hah… hah… an impressive Semblance you have… now let's see what I can do with it…" Alyssa said between gasps of breath, forming a blue glyph beneath Weiss. The glyph, which recoiled anything that touched it, quickly jettisoned the trapped Weiss into the air. Weiss soon came to a stop in the air and began falling, passing through a white glyph that had been placed in the air. She passed through another and another, each glyph going by seconds faster than the previous before she had built up so much momentum that when the junior Huntress inevitably hit the ground, her body left an impression in the pavement. Alyssa sheathed her sword and walked away to rejoin Jin in the heist.

"You hear what that kid said, Jin? The police are on the way, we need to speed this up." Alyssa said, Jin nodding and opening one of the crates.

"Got it. Torchwick said he was lookin' for something special. Let's grab and go before more annoying children show up with the heat." Jin said, turning to keep an eye on Knox and Adam's fights while Alyssa searched the crate. "Wrap it up, guys! And keep the brats alive! You can take a few limbs if you want, but if we have a murder here they'll be more likely to chase us later." Jin shouted, Knox nodding and barely turning from his fight with Ruby.

Ruby went for a sweep of her scythe at Knox's legs, but he leapt over it and swung her blade at her shoulder. Ruby spun fast enough to avoid it, leaping onto her blade to launch a kick to the side of his head that he blocked with his armguard. He grabbed the birthday girl, throwing her away from him. She landed on her feet with a slide, using her blade as a brake to slow her momentum as Know slid his katana back into the sheathe. "I have waited too long to end you, child… too long since you eluded me…" the masked general said, Ruby looking at him with her scythe outstretched.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" she asked as Knox moved slowly closer.

"Hah… you've already forgotten about that night. That Final Harvest night when I had my blade to your throat, that foolish White Claw boy ran to your rescue…" he said, slowly removing his mask to reveal a familiar face. Long jet black hair and shining white eyes and the left side covered in patchy, mottled skin. "And you burnt my face. Do you remember me now, child?" he asked, Ruby backing away.

"N-no… not you again…" she said, knees shaking as Knox charged straight at her, unsheathing the blade for a faster swing that sliced her across the chest with blinding speed with the edge of the blade, causing a splatter of blood to land on the pavement behind her. She screamed, grasping the wound on her chest and dropping to her knees as she started to gasp for air.

"I want you to remember this." Knox said, raising his blade in the air and swinging down to finish her off, when a sudden clang rang out that stopped his blade.

"Not you, not today." Jaune said, standing between the two of them with his shield raised.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Knox asked as Ruby started to crawl along the ground away from the two of them.

"The guy who's telling you to leave. There is nothing but trouble coming your way and you know it. So leave my friends alone, and get out of our lives!" He said, swinging his sword at him, but Knox casually leaned his head back, the blade just missing his throat.

"I'll remember that…" Knox said coldly, running off as he heard the sound of sirens in the distance. "Adam. Police are coming. You have five minutes. Finish her." he warned before running to meet with Jin and Alyssa. The troops ran around the fight, moving as much Dust as they could to the designated drop-off point.

Adam and Blake stood at a standstill, blades meeting and the two former allies staring each other down. "Is this what you wanted, Blake? All of your friends suffering and dying because of you? You can't run away from your old life, everything new you make will just fall apart because deep inside your heart, you know you're just like me." Adam said, Blake growling and pushing aside his sword, swinging wildly at him.

"I am -NOTHING- like you! Nobody has to die for us to change the world, Adam!" Blake yelled, still swinging only to be blocked.

"Of course they have to die,, this is a war, not a fairytale…" Adam said, swinging hard and knocking away Gambol Shroud. He brought the blade to her neck "And in war, you have to make sacrifices to win... " Adam said before hearing a shot ring out.

"Police! Hands in the air!" shouted an officer, running up to Adam and putting a gun to his face.

"We'll meet again, Blake…" he said quietly, turning and slicing the pistol before running off. The rest of the Black Fang troops began to scatter as police and medics flooded the docks, arresting anyone they could grab a hold of and putting people on stretchers. Blake watched all around her as a docked ship began to immediately take off from the pier. She tried to point out the ship to someone, but in the chaos of the Black Fang scrambling to evade capture, she could barely get the words out of her mouth. She simply watched as Ruby, Yang and Sun were carefully loaded onto stretchers, Weiss slowly coming to her feet. She rubbed her shoulder, which took a good brunt of the impact of her landing. She walked over to Blake, who had frowned upon seeing the Schnee heiress.

"Weiss, I-I'm really sorry. I know that I can never take back what I did to you and I don't expect you to forgive me, but-" she began, Weiss immediately wrapping her arms around the Faunus girl.

"Don't you ever run off like that again, Blake…" Weiss said, holding her friend tight. Blake slowly smiled, returning the hug.

"Th-thank you, Weiss… I can't tell you just how sorry I am… I thought what I was doing was the right thing and… I was just being a fool." Blake said, Weiss tightening her grip.

"It's okay… I'm just glad I have my friend back…" Weiss replied before a wave of bright lights hit the Huntresses.

The two let go of each other to see the police standing in front of them, one of the officers stepping out of the pack with a pair of handcuffs. "Blake Belladonna?" the officer said, Blake nodding and turning to face him.

"Yes…" she answered, understanding what he was about to say.

"You're under arrest for truancy and conspiracy to commit robbery." he said as he started to cuff Blake's hands, Weiss grabbing the officer's arm.

"No! Blake wasn't a part of this! She was fighting with us to stop them!" she shouted, struggling to fight the cuffs out of the cop's hands. Blake put a hand on Weiss' shoulder.

"Weiss, it's fine…" she said, Weiss stopping and looking at her.

"But-" Weiss began, Blake shaking her head.

"I'll be fine. Professor Ozpin will vouch for me. Trust me, I won't be in jail for long." Blake explained, Weiss slowly releasing her grip on the handcuffs. The officer turned back to Blake, who put her hands behind her back and allowed herself to be cuffed, walking away toward the squad car.

"Good luck, Blake! Don't tell them anything unless you have a lawyer present!" Weiss called as Blake climbed in the car. Blake rolled her eyes, smiling as the car drove away. Weiss walked off, stopping to see Jaune answering an officer's questions.

"Well, I don't really know all that much about Blake. We don't talk often and you'd be better off asking Ruby or Weiss, they're her friends." he explained, the interrogating officer taking down notes.

"I think that covers everything. You're good to go." the cop said, Jaune nodding and walking off.

"They're probably gonna grill you before you leave… what happened here?" Jaune asked, Weiss letting out a small sigh.

"Let's just say that Blake and I may have given Ruby the worst birthday gift you could think of…" Weiss said with a small smile.

"...It was Ruby's birthday?"


	44. Final Exam, Part 1

_Blake,_

 _Yo. Sorry to make this short but I didn't have a lot of paper on me. It was cool hanging with you, but it's time for me to make tracks again. When you get this letter, I should be on the way to Mistral to enroll in Haven Academy. That fight at the docks and nearly dying really made me think on what I'm doing with my life. Sure, it's fun to travel the world and be a free spirit, but if I don't do anything with my life then I may as well die before I waste it any more. Good luck with your friends and the final exams. I'll stop by Beacon next time I'm in town._

 _Sun._

 _P.S. Tell that hot blonde that I owe her for stopping me from bleeding out. The price I pay for a lil' bit of guts._

Blake looked over the letter for about the third time, but the question still remained in the back of her mind. "How did he get this on my bed?" Blake asked, Weiss looking up from her violin and shrugging. The instrument had been repaired in the three weeks between then and the incident at the docks, the neck of the violin replaced with an ebony one that contrasted the spruce body.

"Well, he managed to get over the gate before, even after Professor Ozpin had that tree cut down. Still seems a bit unnecessary to do that. Did he really think you were going to try and leave during your suspension?" Weiss asked in response as Blake looked over the letter again. While she had been let out of police custody after questioning and word from Professor Ozpin, her escape from the school was in violation of their prior agreement so Blake had found herself suspended for two weeks, leaving her unable to leave the school grounds during that time.

Weiss, getting no response from her friend, stopped her playing and walked over, poking at Blake's beret with her bow, the Faunus girl quickly swatting it away. "Stop that." Blake said, looking up from the letter.

"Why do you still wear that, anyway? I don't have any problem with you being a Faunus, Blake. You don't have to hide it from me." Weiss said, Blake sighing.

"I like my hat, okay?" Blake said sarcastically.

"Blake…" Weiss said, prodding the issue.

"It's not as simple as you'd think. The terms of my enrollment in Beacon were that I needed to hide my identity out of concerns that I would be spotted as a criminal. Just because you, Ruby and Yang are okay with it, doesn't mean the rest of the school is. I mean, how's Cardin going to react when he finds out that I'm a Faunus? He hates me enough for being a 'Faunus lover' and-" Blake began.

"Who cares what Cardin thinks? But still... there might be more than just Cardin who might have an issue." Weiss admitted, Blake nodding and setting the letter on her nightstand. "But for today, we have more important things to worry about. At three hours' time, we will be heading off to meet Professor Port for the final exam, so we have just enough time for a bit of sparring before lunch. Shall we?" Weiss offered, Blake smiling and getting up, heading out to go to her locker.

Ruby winced in pain as she leaned against the ropes, chest stinging with pain as Chance pulled back his arm, throwing it out and chopping his young student in the chest with the edge of his hand. "OW! Okay, maybe you were right about rescheduling chop class!" Ruby said, regretting her earlier bravado when presented with the option to wait until months after her treatment.

"I thought the same thing when I first did a dive off the top and nearly broke my leg." Chance said a smile, hitting her with another hard chop.

"OW! WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH FIGHTING GRIMM?" Ruby yelled as Chance pulled back his arm again. "Endurance. You have to be able to take a hit without collapsing onto the floor in pain." he explained, chopping her for a third time.

"OW! I DIDN'T SAY 'DO IT AGAIN!"' Ruby shouted, Chance chuckling a bit before stepping out of the ring and grabbing a nearby bottle of water from the table. He tossed the bottle to Ruby, who caught it and opened it.

"Okay then, chop class dismissed. Besides, you said your final exam was in a few hours and I doubt your teachers will want to see you come in late and covered " Chance joked, Ruby smiling as she drank her water.

"Thanks Chance. So, when you are gonna be in again?" she asked.

"Sometime in the summer for our Supernova show. But I'm guessing you guys will be on a job around that time, so I wouldn't worry about missing classes." he said, climbing into the ring and sitting himself cross-legged. Ruby followed suit, knowing that Chance had some last-minute advice for her whenever he did this. "You don't need this exercise, you don't need to be any tougher than you currently are. Don't worry about taking too much damage, or not dealing enough damage… Focus on your footwork, if they can't hit you, you'll eventually win." Chance explained, Ruby nodding and muttering slightly to repeat what he said. "Good, now you'd better get going, you said your exam is on a few hours, right?" he asked, Ruby quickly jumping up and climbing out of the ring to gather her bags.

"Seeya in the summer, Chance!" she said, rushing out the door.

Yang had managed to level another Boxing Club member, Coco excitedly calling for the bell. "Another first round KO! You know, Yang. If this whole Huntress gig doesn't work out for you, you've got a bright future in boxing." Coco said as Yang sat down in nearby chair, drinking some bottled water.

"Thanks Coco. Dad taught me well. Surprised he never got into fighting when he was young. I get now, but if he was as good as I am, he'd probably still be a champ." Yang said, taking another sip of water.

"Of course, you'll need a manager and I'd need about… let's say 80/20, that's still enough to buy you a mansion and buy me my own shark to ride into battle." Coco said, calculating the numbers in her head.

"...I'm just going to assume you're joking." Yang said, Coco looking to ceiling with dreamy eyes.

"I'd call him Sir Fang and he would be armed with a chaingun…" she said, Yang slowly sliding out of the ring.

"...Anyway… I'd better go get a bite before final exam. Later, folks! When you see me next, I'll be a full-fledged Huntress." Yang said as she headed for the gym exit.

"Hold on, Yang!" Coco said, rolling out of the ring and catching up with the blonde.

"What? Did I forget something?" Yang asked.

"Nah, I forgot to give you something. Gimme a sec…" Coco said, rooting around in her bag for a few seconds. She grinned as she pulled out a pair of aviator sunglasses, handing them to Yang.

"Cool... thanks, Coco." Yang said, the more experienced Huntress pushing up her own shades.

"You gotta look cool for your big day. Don't let them see the fear in your eyes." Coco said, holding up her fist before Yang. Yang smiled and bumped fists with Coco before leaving the gym, passing by Team ANVL in the middle of their own training session.

The four were running laps around the gym, Pyrrha shouting instructions and encouragement to the rest of her team. "COME ON, GUYS! RUN LIKE I'M A DOG AND YOU'VE GOT HAM PANTS!" Pyrrha shouted, reciting an old school Ritterism as Ren continued to take lead, lapping the rest of ANVL without a single word.

"Why would you make pants out of ham?!" Jaune asked in confusion.

"I know, right? I'd just eat them and then I wouldn't have any pants!" Nora said.

"Nora, I don't think that's the only problem with ham pants." Ren said as he passed by.

"Well, of course not, Ren! I mean, you also have to keep it from going bad, you don't know where the zipper is, is it raw or smoked ham? These are all major issues in meat-based clothing!" Nora said.

"Look, I didn't come up with the ham pants, okay? Just keep running! Run like you're being chased by a million angry cats!" Pyrrha shouted from behind, Jaune immediately picking up the pace.

"None of you are getting any dinner until you finish your 1000 pull ups, now stop gawkin' and get pulling!" Cardin shouted at his "friends" as they scouted ANVL from the pull up bar. The trio continued their pullups, Cardin tuning his attention to ANVL. "Can't believe they still let Arc stay in this school. Look at him get winded doing a bit of running! He's dragging Beacon down with his own presence…" he said with a sneer.

"Didn't… hah… didn't he kill an Alpha Ursa?" Sky asked between pull-ups.

"A lucky stab doesn't mean anything, Sky. I owe him one so I'm letting him live, but that doesn't mean he's gonna last long in the final exam." Cardin shot back.

"He's doing a lot better thanks to his friends." Dove added, Cardin rolling his eyes.

"That's just it. He's got more talented people helping him look good. You put him on his own and he'll break in half." Cardin said bitterly.

"Any plan for the final exam, boss?" Russell asked, Cardin shaking his head.

"Not a clue. Teacher's have kept the whole exam under wraps. Only thing I can say is that we're told to bring weapons, so it's gonna be something dangerous." Cardin replied. Team ANVL soon stopped their running, Sky coming to a realization as he continued his pull ups.

"...Cardin, have you actually been spotting us?" he asked, Cardin rolling his eyes.

"You don't actually have to do 1000 push ups, Sky. Just keep doing them until we head off to get lunch." Cardin said, watching Team ANVL head off and tightening his fists.

Time passed quickly and soon Beacon's first year students were filing out of the school en masse, bags loaded with weapons, Dust, food and other supplies. They headed toward the gate, where a guard stood with a portable card scanner, instructing them to swipe their cards and once approved, take the ticket the device printed out and head for the ship listed on the ticket. Beyond the gate was a fleet of small airships, marked with a colored number on their side. Ruby soon got her ticket, marked with a green 4 and made her way for the ship. She looked around to see the others who would be joining her in the airship; Jaune, Blake, Dove, Sky, Ren, Pyrrha, Weiss, Russell, Nora, Cardin, Yang and four students she had seen in the halls and few classes but never knew personally. The sixteen students entered the airship, seeing mostly empty seats with what looked like backpacks resting on them.

Once sat down in their seats, the familiar rotund frame and mustachioed visage of Professor Port stepped onto the airship, closing the door behind him. "Good afternoon, students. Today marks the culmination of all your months of study and training. All the blood, sweat and tears you have poured into the school pay off today. As you can see, there's only a small amount of you left as many of your peers have either left or found themselves expelled as we made the journey to this day. Not everyone can truly brave the danger that we face every day. To go out there into the world knowing that this very day could be your last. But now that you've come to this point, there is no turning back." Port said, taking the large backpack off his back and unzipping it to reveal small metallic wrist braces. "Those of you who saw the Vytal Festival Tournament will be familiar with these vitality trackers, but there have been some modifications to them for this exam. Grab a tracker and I will explain the mission further." he said, students stepping up and placing a tracker on their wrists.

"Now then, these trackers are linked to Beacon's database and to each individual brace, allowing us to keep tabs on every student's vitals throughout the exam. The trackers are also equipped with an emergency alarm that will go off when a student is critically injured or dead." Port explained, a grim silence washing over the students. That last word lingered in their minds for some time as they contemplated the possibility of dying after making it this far.

"Students… students haven't died in this exam, have they?" Pyrrha asked, breaking the silence.

"The life of a Hunter is a life of violence and danger. While we at Beacon do not intend to kill our students, death is inevitable, especially in combating the Grimm." Port said in a dire tone. "It cannot be said enough that this is not a game. The Grimm will not hesitate to attack and kill you if given the chance and as Hunters you must be armed and ready to fight to protect yourself and others. And that brings us to our final exam. Within the Emerald Forest is an abandoned temple into the center of a canyon containing several relics. Your and your partner will each claim a relic and escape the canyon. Once out of the canyon, you are to fire the flare gun that you have been supplied in your drop packs." Port said, pointing to one of the backpacks that were on the ship's seats.

Ruby raised her hand, Port nodding and smiling. "Ms. Rose, you have a question." he said, Ruby dropping her hand.

"You mentioned partners, Professor Port, does this mean we're going to be put in teams?" she asked.

"Indeed, as you journey through the forest, you will regroup with one of the 15 other students. On your tracker is a listing of each student in relation to you and your compatibility with each one bases on the TESTS Grading System. Now, who remembers what TESTS stands for?" Port asked, Weiss raising her hand.

"Teamwork, Endurance, Strength, Technique and Speed." she answered, Port nodding to her.

"Very good, Ms. Schnee. Along with the listing is a four letter code. Meet with a student and exchange codes with them. Your trackers will be linked and you will officially be partners. Should anything bad happen to your partner, it is your duty to keep them safe until emergency evacuation can come in and extract them." Port explained, waiting until he saw Jaune raise his hand. "Mr. Arc."

"So, what does 'should anything bad happen to your partner' mean? There… there aren't Grimm in the forest, are there?" he asked, Port nodding his head.

"Professor Oobleck has placed a small box of Rapier Wasps in each drop-off point, drawing Grimm towards them. This includes the Emerald Forest. Among your goals within the forest are to survive as there is a 50 mile journey from the drop zone and the canyon. This journey will take days and require you to utilize all you have learned over the school year. Do not hesitate to kill every Grimm that crosses your path, because they will not show you the same mercy." Port said as the airship came to a stop in mid-air. "Now, get your drop packs on, you'll all file out single file for the jump." he said, the students all looking at the backpacks now at their feet and putting them on as Professor Port turned and opened the airship door.

"Now! When you jump out, you'll want to pull the cord on the right to release the pilot chute, which will deploy the main parachute from your drop pack. The left cord is used to unhook the chute from the drop pack. Ah, Ms. Valkyrie! Taking the first leap, I see!" Port said as Nora immediately leaped out the airship, letting out a cry of "I SHALL DOMINATE THE SKIES!" as she made her descent.

"I'd better follow her…" Ren said, jumping out after Nora, followed by Sky and then Dove. Weiss and Blake looked out the window.

"Together?" Weiss asked nervously.

"Together." Blake replied, the two jumping out at the same time. Pyrrha soon jumped, followed by Russell jumping and Yang stepping up to the line after him and putting on her aviators.

"Seeya in forest, sis!" Yang said as she made her jump. Ruby turned to Jaune with a nervous smile.

"Well… hope you got your air legs, Jaune…" Ruby said, running out of the airship and jumping. Jaune slowly made his way to the open door, gripping the wall tightly.

"Uh… Professor Port... maybe you could bring the ship a bit lower?" Jaune asked, the large Huntsman shaking his head.

"No can do, Mr. Arc. Any lower than this and we'll become easy pickings for any Grimm down below. Any higher and the upper air currents will blow you over to Mistral before you land." Port said, Jaune nodding and looking down.

"W-well, maybe I'll just sit this one out. I can wait another yeEEEAAAAHHHH!" Jaune screamed as he was pushed out of the ship, turning to see Cardin standing in the doorway and shouting to him.

"Whoops! Didn't see ya there, Jaune!" Cardin lied before jumping himself.

Ruby felt the rush of wind against her face as she made her descent. "WOOHOOO! THIS IS AWESOME!" she exclaimed, turning to see Jaune in air above her screaming several obscenities as he struggled to unhook his parachute. Ruby quickly turned her focus to the ground and pulled the right cord on her drop pack, her parachute deploying with ease and slowing her drop into the forest. Ruby made her way down, unhooking her parachute once she was inches from the ground and looked to see other parachutes still in the air, one slowly advancing on a tree with a cry of "NO! NOOOOOO!" as the parachute's owner attempt to veer away from the tree, to no avail. Ruby looked to see one lone student make a free fall, parachute flying away from him. "Hold on! I'll catch ya!" she shouted as she began to run toward the falling student. She looked through the patches of clear sky through the trees as she ran, seeing the boy fall closer and closer. Ruby kept running, only to see a massive black bird swoop down from a nearby cliff and catch the falling student into its beak, Ruby stopping in her tracks. "Ah… no…" was all she could utter, looking on in horror as the bird tipped its head back, no doubt swallowing the poor Huntsman whole, before flapping its wings and taking off.

"I can't believe it… he's gone…" she said in shock, grabbing her scythe to keep it at the ready but standing on shaking knees. She listened carefully for the sound of movement as she began to move deeper into the forest. She turned on her vital tracker, looking through the profiles of the students to see one with only a red X. She was thankful to see that his was the only red X on the tracker as she began her search, scrolling up to see the ones who she was most compatible with. "Let's see… top five is Yang, of course. There's Blake, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha… Man I wish I could be on her team…" Ruby muttered, walking through the forest and looking for another student, checking her tracker to see if anyone else had fallen but finding no other Xs on the tracker screen. The junior Huntress picked up speed as she sunk deeper into the forest, keeping her scythe gripped in one hand as she heard movement around her.


	45. Final Exam, Part 2

Ruby kept up her running, trying to remember which tree Jaune had gotten himself stuck in. "Gotta find Jaune, gotta find Jaune… or Yang. Or Blake. Or Pyrrha… maybe Nora. I mean, as long as I don't get stuck with someone like Cardin… or Russ… or Sky… Or W-" Ruby muttered as she ran, absentmindedly crashing into someone in the forest at 40 miles an hour, sending them both into a tree.

"AHHHHH! WHAT WAS TH- FARMGIRL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Weiss shouted in shock as Ruby pulled herself off the Schnee heiress.

"Oh, hey Weiss! Didn't think I'd run into you." Ruby said, chuckling and rubbing the back of her head.

"You're not supposed to literally run into people!" Weiss exclaimed through her gritted teeth, her volume lowered as she pulled herself off the tree.

"Eheheheheh… sorry, wasn't paying attention. So, I guess we exchange codes now?" Ruby asked, turning to her tracker while Weiss simply turned and walked away.

"No. I refuse. I am not going to spend the next few days of my life with you following me around." she said, getting a foot away when she heard a beeping on her tracker.

"Please return and exchange codes or you will be disqualified." the tracker warned.

"Well, then disqualify me! I cannot possibly work with a child like her!" Weiss yelled at the tracker, the screen turning red and showing a green 10.

"This tracker will detonate if you do not comply. 10...9...8…" the tracker began, Weiss' eyes going wide.

"You've gotta be kidding me! You're gonna blow me up if I don't partner up with Ruby?!" she asked, watching the number go down.

"Looks like we have an impasse. Which one is better, going boom or hanging out with me?" Ruby asked, putting her arm around Weiss.

"3..2…" the tracker said, Weiss growling and snapping at the wrist device.

"Fine, okay! My code is 2319!" Weiss said, the screen returning to its normal blue and showing her profile.

"1818. You won't regret not being blown up, Weiss. You and me, we're gonna be the bee's knees!" Ruby said, gesturing out to the world with her free hand. Weiss looked up from typing in Ruby's code, staring at her in confusion.

"...What does that even mean?" she asked.

"I don't know! But whatever it is, we're that." Ruby replied as she headed further into the forest. Weiss looked at her tracker, moving past the screen showing that Ruby had accepted her code and looking for a way to communicate with a teacher. She soon located a contact button and clicked it, getting Professor Ozpin after a few seconds.

"Ms. Schnee, the tracker's communicator is to be used for emergencies only. Please state your emergency." he said calmly.

"Are these trackers seriously equipped to explode if you don't partner with the first person you meet up with?" Weiss asked.

"No, but it makes for a good way to keep students partnered quickly. Back in the day, people would duck each other until they found the partners they wanted and they'd get eaten by Grimm." Ozpin explained, Weiss simply turning off the communicator.

"I hate this school…" she said as she went to catch up with Ruby. She checked her tracker, turning on the map to see a small red dot with the name "Ruby" next to it and ran toward the dot, weaving through trees as she caught up with her partner who was still running through the forest. "Ruby! Wait up!" Weiss called out, Ruby stopping and skidding a halt and drawing up dirt as she stopped.

"Come on, Weiss! Keep up! If we keep going at this pace we'll be at the temple before nightfall!" Ruby called as Weiss got right next to her.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Weiss complained, Ruby trying to climb up a tree without a running start.

"I don't have a map, but I thought finding a canyon might be pretty easy, y'know? Look for the canyon-y bit." Ruby said as she struggled up the tree trunk, using Crescent Rose to hold her herself to the tree. Weiss stared at Ruby as she dangled from the scythe's pole, hand on her forehead to cut back glare as she began looking for the canyon. "You can't possibly see the canyon in a forest this thick. You'd need to cut down every tree in front of you just to make anything resembling a clearing." she explained as Ruby began to pull her scythe out of the tree.

"But given that you have overgrown gardening tool, it should be no trouble for you to clear the forest." Weiss joked, Ruby rolling her eyes.

"Oh, ha ha! Haven't heard that one in a while!" Ruby said sarcastically.

"And it's still as funny as it is true…" Weiss said with a smirk as they walked.

The huntresses ventured deeper and deeper into the forest, Weiss stopping on occasion to use pull out a small knife to carve a marking into a nearby tree so they could keep track of their current location. The journey went on for hours but to them it felt like days, the wood-carvings barely helping as they passed tree after tree. Weiss tried to stay calm, though it proved difficult due to the sound of growling Grimm and battle echoing through the trees. Not helping matters was Ruby's mood going from excited at the prospect of having a partner to exhaustedly complaining with each step they took. "Weiss, can we stop? It's getting dark and we haven't seen a single bit of the temple. My feet hurt and I'm getting hungry..." Ruby said, Weiss focusing on cutting a mark into the tree. "Weiss, that marker's not gonna help us any more than the last twenty…" Ruby said, Weiss trying to ignore her and focus on the marker. "Weiss!" Ruby shouted, grabbing Weiss' shoulder and jerking it. Weiss dropped the knife, turning angrily and pulling away from Ruby's hand..

"What is wrong with you?! I'm trying to make sure we don't get lost!" Weiss shot back, glaring at the Patch native angrily.

"These stupid markers are getting us nowhere!" Ruby said, Weiss sighing and rolling her eyes.

"Fine! Then why don't you try taking the lead, farmgirl?" Weiss asked, Ruby clenching her fist and walking forward, Weiss following after her.

"Stupid Weiss and her stupid money and her stupid markers… can't believe I got stuck with her as a partner." Ruby grumbled, barely keeping her voice low as they walked.

"Believe me, you were not my first pick for a partner, either. How in the world did a dirt poor, hyperactive, irritating little child like you make their way into Beacon?" Weiss asked, Ruby turning to yell at her before stopping herself, her scowl slowly turning into a grin.

"You wanna know how I got offered a spot in Beacon? Well, it's quite simple, Weiss. One time I was on my way home from picking up some ale for Professor Port and I had two paths to go on. One was a long, safe, boring way back. The other was faster and had a pack of Beowolves roaming. So I took the other path and I made a bunch of Beowolves angry, but then… I outran them!" she said, immediately kicking in her Semblance to leave Weiss in the dust.

"RUBY! Get back here!" Weiss called out, setting down several white glyphs onto the ground in front of her as she gave chase. She finally caught up with Ruby, who come to a sudden stop in her run. "See? This is what I'm talking about! You're nothing more than a stupid little brat playing dumb games!" Weiss said while Ruby simply looked at the path in front of her.

"Weiss…" Ruby said quietly, but her reluctant partner kept on ranting.

"This isn't sparring and practice, Ruby! We're in a forest full of monsters that want to kill us! What if you had ran ahead and got pounced on by an Ursa! It seems like every single time one of us follows you, or even listens to a single thing you say, you get us nearly killed because you have NO self control!" Weiss shouted, Ruby trying again to get her again.

"Look, Weiss. Can we talk about this some other ti-" Ruby began, only for Weiss to keep going.

"I swear, when we get back to Beacon, I am asking, no, _demanding_ a new partner because you are the absolute worst-" Weiss went on before Ruby forced them face-to-face.

"WEISS! BEOWOLVES! RIGHT THERE!" Ruby said, pointing sharply at the pack that was advancing on them. Weiss snapped out of her anger, turning to see the pack and unsheathing Myrtenaster.

"Well, why didn't you say something earlier?!" Weiss asked, Ruby growling in annoyance before unfolding Crescent Rose. "Run or fight?" Weiss asked as suddenly one of the Beowolves lunged at her, Ruby spun her blade, knocking it away with a slash of her blade. "Looks like they're choosing for us, we're fighting!" Ruby said as the pack of ten Beowolves began to prowl toward the two.

"Under any circumstances, don't let them surround us." Weiss said quietly, leaping onto a Glyph and launching herself over the wolves and to the other side of the pack so they could fight from opposite sides. Weiss grabbed a chamber of fire dust, spinning it and swinging her blade to the side, her rapier now flaming as another Beowolf attacked her with enough speed to immediately push her onto her back. Ruby quickly jumped up to slash the Beowolf away from her partner.

"Weiss! Blitz!" Ruby said with an outstretched hand. Weiss lied there, confused before realizing what Ruby meant and quickly pulling out a crystal of lightning dust and handing it to her partner. She jammed the crystal into the groove in her blade, the full size scythe unfolding from its more compact form. Lighting began to spark up the blade and connect to the ground as she charged head first into the pack, slashing with such speed that one was decapitated, the blast of lightning enough to send the entire pack flying away, leaving only 9 remaining. "Before you ask, the bigger blade is for fighting a group instead of just one target." Ruby said as Weiss stood up.

"I wasn't going to ask. Now stand back… Stein!" Weiss shouted as her chamber landed on an amber crystal. She stabbed the tip of Myrtenaster into the ground, sending the glowing energy into it and causing it to shake violently.

"Wh-whoa! Weiss! What are you do-" Ruby exclaimed as she saw the Beowolves scatter as spikes of solid rock began to surface, stabbing through one's underside as it was running. Two more got spiked, the spikes stopping when they hit the spine and trapping the Grimm.

"Oh, that is awesome!" Ruby said as she ran up to one and quickly decapitated it. Weiss spun the chamber, landing on the familiar orange-red crystal.

"Feuer!" Weiss shouted as the blade began to glow. Ruby turned to see a Beowolf behind Weiss that was leaning on its hind legs, ready to pounce.

"Weiss! Look out!" she said, running and tackling Weiss to the ground as she went for a slash on a Beowolf. The red energy flew off and hitting a tree, setting it alight as Ruby and Weiss hit the ground, the pouncing Beowolf landing where Weiss stood.. The fire began to spread, lighting more and more trees around them.

"What did you do?!" Weiss asked in exasperation as Ruby scrambled to her feet, grabbing her partner's arm.

"Just run!" Ruby said, turning to Weiss and seeing the Beowolves begin to retreat from the inferno.

The two ran for as long as they could before collapsing into the grass, gasping for breath. "Ruby what… was that?! You could've gotten seriously burnt doing something so stupid! This is grade six Dust I'm using! Why in the name of Beacon would you-" Weiss began to argue before Ruby simply spoke up.

"You're welcome!" she snapped, Weiss glaring at the young huntress.

"And what is -that- supposed to mean?" Weiss asked as Ruby got up.

"If I hadn't pounced you, that Beowolf would have! A thank you would be nice!" Ruby said, Weiss sighing and placing her bag down.

"It's getting dark. We'll need to set up camp for the night. Can you gather wood for the fire?" Weiss asked, Ruby nodding and heading off to gather sticks and branches, using her scythe to cut thin branches off trees. As she gathered kindling, Weiss pulled out bagged food rations and freshwater, setting them aside to grab her sleeping bag and tent-making kit.

Within an hour, Ruby and Weiss were waiting for their dinner to finish cooking, a small tent set up with a small fire going, lanterns of light dust illuminating the campground. "Let's see… the package says it should be done in a minute." Weiss said as she looked over the torn wrapping of the rations they were given, Ruby tending to the cooking pan full of eggs and sausages. "Don't burn the sausage, that's fine." Weiss said, Ruby shooting a glare at her before pulling the pan off the fire and serving the food on two small plates. The two ate in silence, taking in the sound of chirping crickets and wind, listening for any footsteps, human or otherwise.

"We'll need to take shifts sleeping. Who goes first?" Ruby asked, Weiss rubbing her chin in thought.

"Are you still having trouble sleeping?" Weiss asked, Ruby blinking a bit.

"Huh? What do you mean? I don't have trouble-" Ruby began to say before Weiss cut her off.

"Don't try the tough girl act, you've woken me up before with your night terrors. We can't have you screaming and alerting something to our presence." Weiss said bluntly, Ruby opening her mouth but finding no one words to argue with that.

"Okay, I'll stay up first. We do… two hours each?" Ruby suggested, Weiss nodding and finishing her dinner, heading for the tent without a word. Ruby unfolding her scythe, sitting by the fire and resting Crescent Rose across her lap, she lifted her arm and opened the tracker's main screen where it showed the map of the surrounding area. "I wonder how everyone's doing…" Ruby muttered quiet enough to not annoy Weiss, who was the notoriously light sleeper. "Yang, Yang, Yang... Woah… She's STILL going?" She said with some shock, noticing Yang was nearly 3 miles ahead of Ruby and still running fast enough for the blip to move. "Blake's going fast too…looks like Jaune's out of the tree." Ruby said, looking over the blips on her tracker. Ren and Nora were at opposite ends of the forest and Pyrrha was running by Jaune. She looked over the other blips, seeing one become a blinking red X, signaling the worst had happened yet again. "Another death…" Ruby said, realizing just how lucky she and Weiss were to have made it to the end of the day. There were only fourteen students left in the forest and she had no idea how many had failed the other tests. Ruby shuddered, turning off her tracker and turning her attention back to guarding.

The night was long and uncomfortable for the pair due to the hard ground they had to sleep on, the sleeping bag giving them little comfort as they slept. Weiss soon awoke as the morning sun broke, Ruby looking up at a patch of sky poking through the trees. "Morning... what are you looking at?" Weiss asked, Ruby quickly holding up a hand to shush her partner. The younger huntress kept her eyes focused on something, Weiss moving to stand next to her and look through the hole. A Nevermore circled the sky ominously, looking for a place to roost while Ruby furrowed her brow, deep in thought. "We'll have to keep moving before it spots us." Weiss said, but Ruby simply kept thinking, her eyes lighting up and a grin forming on her face.

"I got an idea! We climb the highest tree in the forest! We can follow it back to a good vantage point to finding the temple!" Ruby said, Weiss thinking about the idea.

"One problem with that plan: what happens if we fall out of the tree?" Weiss asked, turning to see that Ruby was already running off to find the largest tree in the forest. "Ack! Ruby! Wait up!" Weiss shouted as she ran after her partner. The two soon came to a stop at a large tree. "Hrm... the tree looks to be about over 200 feet… are you sure about this?" Weiss asked, Ruby nodding and thinking hard.

"We'll need a way to get up their quick, even at top speed I could barely break the first fifty feet. Hrm… what can your little magic glowy snowflakes do again, Weiss?" Ruby asked, the Schnee sighing and putting a hand to her temple.

"They're called glyphs and each one has a different property. White glyphs boost your body's momentum to accelerate movement or improve jumps. Black glyphs halt momentum completely, holding you to whatever surface you're on. Blue glyphs-" Weiss began, Ruby quickly cutting her off.

"So we use alternating glyphs. Black glyphs to keep us on the tree and white glyphs to go faster, right?" Ruby asked, Weiss rubbing her chin and looking over the tree.

"It's possible… but risky. I'd have to be constantly removing glyphs behind us keep from using too much aura at once." Weiss explained, Ruby nodding and going back to the mental drawing board.

"Hrm… okay! Make a really big glyph and we'll jump to the top!" Ruby said, feeling confident about this plan.

"You'd still have the problem of exhausting my aura. And we can't be sure that I'll make the jump." Weiss countered, Ruby shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, it's either this or we can go wandering around the forest for another five days…" Ruby said, Weiss nodding in understanding and taking a deep breath.

"Take my hand." Weiss said, Ruby grabbing onto her open hand as a massive white glyph surrounded the two, glowing brighter and brighter with each passing second before finally launching them straight into the air. Ruby let out an excited yell as she felt the rush of wind against her face, barely able to hear herself over Weiss' own panicked screams. "WE'RE REALLY HIGH UP! WHAT IF WE FALL?!" Weiss asked as they soon began to lose momentum and slowed down.

"Alright, Weiss! I'm gonna throw you the rest of the way up!" Ruby shouted down to her partner, only getting a wide eyed stare in response before putting all her strength into throwing Weiss. Weiss made her way up screaming "WHAT?! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" all the way up as she flailed her arms, managing to grab onto a branch and halt herself. The Schnee heiress began to carefully move along the branch, bringing herself closer to the tree and climbing onto the top of the branch. "I made it! Ruby, I made- RUBY!" Weiss exclaimed, realizing her partner was now falling to her death. She looked down, trying to find Ruby falling and ready a black glyph, only to see nothing. "Oh no, oh no! This is bad! Where'd she go?!" Weiss said as she turn on her tracker, looking and seeing the beeping reticle of her partner. "She's… she's alive? ...Where is she?" Weiss asked, turning off her tracker and hearing a call of "DOWN HERE!" Weiss following the source to see Ruby dangling from her scythe, which had been buried in the tree,

"That went better than I thought! Can you help me up now?" Ruby asked, Weiss staring at her with jaw wide open.

"How... how did you- Nevermind! Hold on, I'm gonna throw you a rope!" Weiss called back, turning and opening up her bag.

She pulled out some rope and her carving knife, stabbing the knife into the tree and tying a knot around the handle of the knife. Weiss threw down the rope, just managing to stop in front of Ruby. Ruby grabbed onto the rope with one hand and wrapped it around her wrist, gripping Crescent Rose with the other and pressing her feet against the tree. With a hard push of both legs, she dislodged her scythe, swaying in the air like the old tree swing in her backyard. After her body stopped swinging, Weiss began to pull her up slowly, the Huntresses finally regrouping. "Alright! Now, let's see…" Ruby said, looking around to see any changes in the landscape, looking for the canyon. "Hrm… you see anything Weiss?" Ruby asked, the heiress nodding and pointing at the canyon, which looked like a small hole amongst a sea of green from where they stood.

"It's about 20 miles from here. It may take us a day and half to get there, but if we keep ourselves on the path, we should be fine." Weiss explained, Ruby looking at something else while she attempted to think of a way to get down.

"One problem with that plan, Weiss…" Ruby said, Weiss turning to look at her partner.

"And that is…" Weiss said. The Nevermore began to dive towards the Huntresses, Weiss' eyes widening. "DOWN!" she exclaimed, ducking onto the branch, Ruby diving with her. The Nevermore landed on the tip of the tree, overlooking the two humans beneath it.

"So I might have forgotten the class where Port told us Nevermore like to perch at the highest point in the area... sorry about that." Ruby said, Weiss glaring with burning contempt in her eyes.

"YOU ID-" she shouted, only to have Ruby cover her mouth and make a shushing gesture.

"It can smell us, we can't stay here… or it'll attack while we're trapped up in this tree." Ruby said calmly, Weiss pulling her partner's hand off her mouth.

"So what do you propose we do, _partner_?" Weiss asked in irritation.

"We gotta move fast. Jump onto its legs." Ruby said, leaping off the branch reaching for one of the Grimm's legs, barely managing to catch onto it.

"You're going to get me killed any second, why are you my partner!?" Weiss shouted.

"Shut up and ride the giant demon bird, hurry!" Ruby called back, Weiss nervously standing and running up, the Nevermore letting out a screech and and craning its neck down to eat her. Weiss quickly jumped, catching the Nevermore's other leg. The Nevermore searched for its prey before lifting off the tree and flying off.

"Just so you know Ruby, I absolutely DESPISE heights! I can't believe this is your plan..." she said, turning to her partner on the Nevermore's leg.

"It was less of a plan and more of something I improvised. That's just how I normally work, Weiss." Ruby replied, Weiss staring in disbelief.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" the heiress asked, Ruby chuckling a bit.

"We'll be fine, just don't look down." Ruby answered, Weiss letting out a distressed sigh.

"So what are we going to do now?" Weiss asked.

"We're going to ride this bird all the way to the temple, it'll be great!" Ruby said excitedly

"HOW ARE YOU A REAL PERSON!?"Weiss exclaimed, deathgripping the Nevermore's leg.


	46. Final Exam, Part 3

Yang ran through the Emerald Forest, keeping her eyes forward and her ears open. As she ran, she could hear a rustling in a nearby set of bushes. Yang came to a stop, turning toward the bush. "Ruby? That you?" she asked, hearing a low growling from the bush. "...Guess not." Yang said and reared back her fist, throwing a punch into the brush, hitting the face of an Ursa that had been hiding away. The Ursa let out a roar, bursting through the bush and charging at Yang. The bear Grimm shook the black goo from its cracked skull as it stood up to face the blonde Huntress. The Ursa brought down its claws, Yang catching them with her own hands, gripping the inside of the Ursa's claw. She dug her heels into the dirt, gritting her teeth as the two fought. The Ursa attempted to sink its claws into her gauntlet, the metal barely chipping under the pressure of the claws. Yang began to glow a soft yellow, divots of dirt forming around her feet as the Ursa began to force her down, letting out a roar in her face, the human yelling back at it.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH! I WILL BREAK YOUR ARMS!" Yang shouted, forcing it back and getting the lead when she felt something quickly and roughly hit her back, breaking her hold and knocking her off balance and onto the ground. "Anh! What the?!" Yang exclaimed, looking up to see the Ursa's head go flying off, black blood spewing from the neck hole as the body began to fall back. Yang shut her eyes as the blood began to spray her, covering in ooze as she heard the hard thud of the fallen Ursa. She slowly stood up, wiping her face and opening her eyes to see Blake standing in front of her, Gambol Shroud coated in a layer of black ooze.

"Hey Yang. Looks like I found you." Blake said calmly, pulling out a cloth to wipe down her blade.

"How did you find me?" Yang asked. "It's not hard to find you when you're screaming louder than the Grimm… plus I used the tracker." Blake said calmly, pointing to her wrist where their two blinking dots met.

"Oh… right… I could've taken him, ya know." Yang said, Blake smirking and going through her tracker.

"2213." the Faunus woman said.

"...What?" Yang asked as Grimm blood dripped off the tips of her hair.

"2213. My code." Blake said bluntly.

"...Why?" Yang asked.

"Because you need my speed and I need your power. Plus, we know each other through Ruby, so even if we don't end up on the same team as her, we'll have someone to bridge us through a partnership." Blake said, Yang thinking for only a second.

"Okay, 2524." Yang said, typing in Blake's code with some difficulty. "Damn it, got blood in the keypad… okay, there we go!" Yang said, Blake turning heel and walking off.

"Good, follow me. There's a stream you can wash the blood off in nearby." Blake said, Yang following behind her. Within minutes, Yang was standing over the stream, looking over the tracker.

"Wait, is this thing waterproof?" Yang asked, Blake shrugging her shoulders. "Welp, guess we're gonna find out." she said as she jumped into the water, creating a big splash of water. Blake backed away quickly from the water. "Whooo! Come on in, Blake! Water's nice and warm!" Yang said with a grin.

"No, I'm good." Blake said, Yang chuckling and wringing Grimm blood and water from her hair.

"Heh! What's the matter, kitty? Don't wanna get wet?" Yang said, smacking the water and making a splash that Blake dodged.

"Don't." Blake said sternly. Yang simply laughed and smacked the water again with both hands, another splash of water coming up and hitting Blake in the face. Blake spat out the small bit of water in her mouth with a grimace. "Stop." she warned, Yang laughing and dipping into the water. She soon surfaced and began to swim back and forth.

"Ah man, feels just like swimming down at the lake back in Patch. Well… Patch was much colder than this." Yang said as Blake sat down, opening up her tracker.

"Hrm… looks like going to have to go 25 miles north from here, keeping mind of any attacking Grimm. It may take us a day or two, but should be able to get there in one piece." Blake said, Yang climbing out of the stream, pulling off her boots.

"How'd you figure that out?" Yang asked, dumping the water from her boots.

"I actually took some time to familiarize myself with the interface. I was able to map out the entire forest and even managed to mark everyone on the tracker. It's why I found you so easily." Blake explained as Yang wrung out her shirt.

"Ya know, maybe it was a bad idea to swim with my clothes on. I'm gonna be soaked for the rest of the day…" Yang said, Blake looking up from her tracker.

"Time is of the essence when you're under constant threat of attack. The Grimm aren't going to run and scream out apologizes if they spot you naked." Blake said as she stood up.

"Well, when you put it like that... " Yang said as the two began to walk, having to deal with the squishing sound of Yang's drenched clothes as they walked.

Their journey was mostly in silence, Blake pulling back her beret to listen for oncoming Grimm. "Sounds safe enough. Nothing within the immediate area." Blake said, pulling down her beret. "So, since we're going to be partners for the next four years or more, maybe we should try getting to know each other. What was it like growing up in Patch?" Blake asked, Yang thinking over the question a bit.

"Well, it was a lot of farmland with small villages covering it. Me and Ruby had to make our own fun because dad was usually working as a teacher at Signal and Uncle Crow's idea of fun started and ended with a cold beer. Not exactly the kind of place you could take a kid, ya know." Yang began. "So, me and Ruby would play games outside. Hide and seek, swimming, fishing, tree-climbing, you name it and we did it. Ruby was always the adventuring type, so I just kind of went along. I eventually found a hobby in fighting. Dad taught me the basics, but I learned the rest just by going up to some big stupid jerk and knocking his teeth out." she said with a big grin. "So how about you? What got you into reading?" Yang asked, Blake needing no time to find the answer.

"When I was living in the Zoo Quarter, entertainment of any kind was a luxury. We didn't have access to television or radio and any we could get that worked get confiscated. Members of the White Claw would bring books with them, which helped take our mind off the struggle of surviving for a bit. It was great, I had actually managed a small collection for myself that I had to leave behind. Sadly, the seeds of the Black Fang would be planted by hiding propaganda and hidden messages in the books. I'd pass them along to other Faunus kids, effectively running a clandestine recruitment drive without even knowing." Blake explained, ending on a somber note.

"Wow, that's messed up. Uh… I mean, er.. " Yang said, trying to change the subject. Blake simply sighed and nodded.

"When you think what you're doing is right, you forget how wrong it might be. But perhaps we should change the subject. Did you have any friends growing up?" Blake asked, Yang chuckling a bit.

"Well, Ruby was my friend." Yang said, Blake staring at her a bit. "...Okay, fine. I didn't have a lot of friends growing up. Kids didn't like talking with the big, sad girl. Especially when their parents told them to stay away from her because 'she played too rough'…" Yang said, the last few words said mockingly with air quotes. "So I had Ruby and I was just fine with that…" she continued, Blake's ears twitching under her beret.

"You don't sound so sure of that… you mentioned being sad, why was that?" Blake asked, Yang shooting her a dirty look.

"I don't want to talk about that. No offense, Blake. But there are just some things I don't like telling people about." Yang explained, Blake nodding in understanding and turning back to face the path ahead. As the two walked in silence, Blake came to a stop, eyes going wide. "Blake, what's the holdup?" she asked, the Faunus girl shaking her head a bit.

"Ursi travel in packs… and we've been moving slower than usual." Blake said, Yang blinking a bit.

"I don't hear any Ursi around." Yang said, her partner pulling up her beret again.

"They're coming in from behind. We gotta get moving. They're only a few miles behind us and they're gaining speed." Blake explained before breaking into a run. Yang chased after her, catching up to her and soon passing her.

"Blake! Slow down! You're hearing the Ursi from miles away! There's no way they caught up to-" Yang began when she was cut off by the loud crash of trees falling behind her. The two turned to see the Ursi behind, toppling trees to get them. "Damn it Blake, miles are not yards!" Yang shouted.

"Do you not pay attention in Oobleck's classes? The top speed of a fully matured Ursa is-" Blake lectured, Yang punching a nearby tree and hitting a pursuing Ursa.

"Can we save the science for when we're not getting murdered?" Yang shot back, Blake nodding and reaching into her bag. She quickly pulled out her clawed gauntlet, adjusting it onto her hand. "We need to find a place they can't reach us, because there is no way we'll be able to outrun an Ursa!" Blake said, slicing down a tree to block off the Ursi, giving them a slight lead.

"So, we're grappling onto a tree then?" Yang asked, the Faunus Huntress shaking her head.

"No. They can knock over the trees. That would end with us either back on the ground or crushed under a tree. Neither are preferable options." Blake explained. "Let's just block them until we can find a jumping off point." she said, Yang chuckling and punching another tree.

"TIMBER!" Yang shouted, Blake glaring at her as they ran. The two ran, deforesting the Grimm off them until they soon reached the edge of a cliff, Yang nearly falling off before Blake pulled her back. "Ah damn it! Well, Blake, it was nice knowing ya… even though I hated and mistrusted you for months on end, I feel like I've really gotten to know you a bit better and maybe in another life, we could've been friends." Yang said, Blake rolling her eyes and grabbing her hand. "Blake, I said friends. I like you and all, but-" Yang said jokingly while Blake aimed her gauntlet.

"Shut up and hold on tight." Blake said, launching for the tree and seeing the claw stop midway and fall into water. "...Change of plans. Hold your breath!" she said, leaning over the edge of the cliff.

"Blake, why are you leaning ba- no. No! No no no no- AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Yang screamed as the two began to fall off the cliff. The fall was over a hundred feet and Yang spent most of the drop screaming before she remembered that she was told to hold her breath. She quickly held her breath, bracing herself as they got closer to the water. The Huntresses hit the water hard, floating in the depth of the river before finally surfacing, looking up to see the Ursi roar at them before walking away. "Yeah! Take that, ya dumb Grimm! You lose! We win! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Yang exclaimed, Blake grimacing and splashing her partner.

"You're right next to my ears… and I can hear better than you can, so thanks for making me deaf." Blake said, swimming off to find dry land with Yang following after her. The two swam for less than ten minutes before returning to dry land.

"What is it with being around you and me getting wet?" Yang asked, Blake's eyes going wide and face turning red.

"...What?" Blake asked, Yang groaning in annoyance.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT, GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE DIRTY BOOKS!" Yang shouted.

"Ears!" Blake snapped, pointing to her soaked beret, Yang nervously rubbing the back of her head.

"Ehehehehe… Sorry…" Yang said, Blake rolling her eyes and walking off. "So… Was there any strategic advantage for getting both of us soaked, Blake?" she asked, trying to wring some more of the water out of her hair.

"The flowing water weakened our scent and the water diluted it even more, scent is the main way the Grimm can keep track of us." Blake explained, wringing her beret and putting it back on her head.

"Man, we're gonna have to iron these out when we get back… and I think I'm gonna need new boots. I can probably give these to Zwei, the dumb bootbiting mutt." Yang said, grumbling about her dog.

"Ah yes, Ruby's talked a bit about Zwei. I think I'd like having him around when we form a team." Blake said, Yang blinking a bit.

"Really? I thought you'd hate dogs, ya know. I mean, you are part cat." Yang said, Blake sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Cats and dogs aren't mortal enemies, Yang. They're actually really adorable when they're sleeping next to each other. Like, when the dog's curled around the cat and then the cat does the thing where it tucks its legs in and looks like a loaf. I call it the Catloaf." Blake said enthusiastically, Yang staring at her with her mouth agape. She looked down at the grass, shutting her mouth. "I like cute things." she said, Yang simply shaking her head and continuing their walk. The journey brought them up a hill, reaching the top to see a large spire of faded white stone.

"Alright, we made it!" Yang said, the two heading for the bridge. They crossed the stone bridge with ease, seeing the doors to the temple had been knocked over, leaving an opening for them to step through. Within the temple was a massive empty chamber, lit by the sun shining through the stained glass roof, leaving a glow of blue and gold over the chamber. The two looked up at the stained glass, depicting the Goddess of Valor flying over a group of Hunters heading to battle against a pack of Grimm to imbue them with bravery, the sun making her a bright gold.

"Wow… it's beautiful…" Blake said, awestruck at the sight of the winged woman

"Hah! Of course you'd like the bird-girl, Faunus lover." came a familiar, unpleasant voice behind Blake. She turned to see Cardin Winchester leaning against a small marble altar, tossing a black chess bishop into the air and catching it.

"Winchester…" Blake snarled, unsheathing her sword and moving toward him, Yang quickly running up and grabbing her by the wrist.

"Save it, he's not worth getting kicked out of Beacon." Yang said as Cardin continued to taunt to her, pointing to his nose.

"That's enough, Cardin." Dove said, stepping out of the shadows.

Cardin shrugged his shoulders, leaning back against the altar. "Ah, you're no fun." Cardin said with a smirk, Dove rolling his eyes.

"Well, at least we have someone we can talk to that we don't want to punch. So, how'd you guys get here so fast? I figured a Boarbatusk would've waylaid you." Yang said, Cardin snorting.

"You really think I'm as dumb as you, blondie? I planned a route hours before we started, and it got me here before you with little to no contact with Grimm. That's a success in my eyes." he said, Yang gritting her teeth a bit.

"Easy, Yang. We'll be leaving as soon as Russell and Sky show up." Dove said, trying to defuse the situation, Blake turned to the circle of altars around them, each with chess pieces resting on it, four of the altars left empty.

"So, the relics are chess pieces then?" Blake asked Dove, who nodded.

"We had Sky do some intel from older teams. Teams are formed by members grabbing matching pieces. They all have a signal device to show which one you grabbed first so you can't trade after you get one." Dove explained, Blake looking to see white knight, white rook and black pawn pieces still set.

"No bishops, then?" Blake said, Cardin laughing and pulling two more black bishop pieces, each one placed between a finger.

"We're saving them for Russ and Sky. I'm not risking a loser like Jaune join my team. They should be here by now… you don't think Sky got them lost, do ya, Dove?" Cardin asked his partner, who shrugged, Blake adjusting her beret slightly.

"There's footsteps outside on the bridge and the sound of arguing morons." Blake said, Cardin shooting her a glare as Russell and Sky soon entering the temple.

"Hell yeah, party's all here! Russ! Sky! Catch!" Cardin said, tossing a bishop to each of them, the two grabbing the pieces, Sky dropping his before picking it up. The three Huntsmen exchanged high-fives, Dove sighing and burying his face in his palm. 

"C'mon, Bronzewing! Don't be a buzzkill and join in! We're the best team in this exam!" Sky said with unwarranted pride. Dove simply made his way out of the room, turning to Blake and Yang as they looked on at the display of self-satisfaction going on in front of them. "A bit of advice: Pick your relic wisely, otherwise you're going to be stuck with someone you hate for three more years and possibly the rest of your life." Dove said, the Huntresses nodding as the rest of Cardin's posse headed off.

"Welp, time to get my hand shaken by Ozpin. Smell ya later!" Cardin said as he walked away, Blake and Yang looking at each other.

"Did he just say 'smell ya later'?" Yang asked, Blake nodding.

"Yes… he did. And I'd rather not think on that any further. Let's just pick our relics." Blake said, walking around the altar, Yang looking them over. The choice was more difficult than the two first thought, as they had two options to consider.

"We could go with the same relic and be partners for the rest of our lives…" Yang said aloud.

"Or go with different relics and leave the rest up to fate." Blake replied, looking at the White Rook piece in contemplation.

"Hrm… screw it, we've made it this far together and it's worked, may as well go the whole way, right?" Yang said as the grabbed a White Knight piece, Blake nodding and grabbing a matching piece. The two looked to each other, smiling and walking over to shake hands when Blake came to a stop, pulling off her beret. "You hear something, Blake?" Yang asked, the Faunus Huntress nodding.

"Trees falling in the woods, footsteps and roaring, sounds like an Ursa… but there's something else I'm hearing. It sounds like… oh no…" Blake said, running for the doorway.

"Blake! Wait up! What did you hear? Is someone hurt? Is someone being attacked? Is…" Yang said as she and Blake came to a stop at the doorway, staring in shock and disbelief.

"...I didn't know what I was expecting." Blake said, Yang letting out an emphatic cry of "WHY?!"


	47. Final Exam, Part 4

Jaune struggled in the tree, his parachute tangled in its branches "Argh! Come on! Stupid tree! Stupid parachute! Stupid final exam!" he grumbled, looking for the release mechanism.

"Jaune! You okay up there? You need a hand?" asked a voice from down below, Jaune looking down to see Pyrrha looking up at him.

"I… I can't unhook my parachute. I think the release might be broken." Jaune said, Pyrrha thinking carefully.

"Hrm… I've got an idea!" Pyrrha said, snapping her fingers. She held out her hand, small sparks shooting through her fingers as Jaune began to feel his sword slide out of his scabbard. "Don't make any sudden movements, Jaune. This requires a lot of focus…" she said, using the sword to cut the parachute strings.

"But what happens when I'm free of the tree and I faAAHHHH!" Jaune said, feeling a bit fall before feeling his chest stop in mid-air, catching him.

"Not the first time I've caught someone mid fall." Pyrrha said, slowly lowering him to the ground.

"Thanks." Jaune said, getting up from the ground.

"So, let's see… I think my code was 1012. Yours?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha checking her tracker.

"1614." She replied, typing in his code quickly. The two beeps followed, the two Hunters heading off into the forest.

"Ya know, Pyrrha. We've been good friends these past couple of months, but I feel like I don't know that much about you." Jaune said, Pyrrha turning to him.

"That's true, I guess I just assumed you'd know all about me and never really talked about myself, given that there's plenty of interviews and inaccurate biographies about me out there. I'm surprised at how many times the documentaries bring up me having a difficult childhood despite the fact that my parents raised me well." Pyrrha explained.

"Let's start there, what were your parents like?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha smiling and thinking back to her childhood.

"Well, I was an only child, so my parents never had to divide their attention and could focus on raising me. My dad was a fighter in his time, so I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Dad would always take me to arena events, take me backstage to meet old friends of his. Mom concerned herself with making sure I had a good education, taking steps to make sure I didn't falter in my studies. Of course, it helps when going outside and playing was out of the question." Pyrrha said, chuckling a bit.

"Oh yeah, Atlas is in a perpetual winter, isn't it?" Jaune said jokingly.

"Mhm. Well actually you have the cold season, and the deathly cold season. One was tolerable but the other one is a legitimate fight for survival if you're out for too long." Pyrrha said, Jaune shivering a bit. "I know, it chills me just thinking about it too. It's why I'm glad to be here in Vale. The green of the trees, the warm summer breeze, the presence of an actual sun. It's wonderful. I think after I retire from being a Huntress, I'll settle somewhere down here." she said, jumping over a small ravine, Jaune following behind her. "What about your family, Jaune? I know about your sisters Valerie and Collette, but you have five other sisters too, right? What was it like living with them?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, there's Izzy, who was the smartest of us. She liked reading engineering books as a hobby. You had to find your own fun living in Patch and she liked robots. And not only was Izzy smart, she was also a smartass. She always had some sort of snappy quip or liked playing on how dumb I was when I was a kid. I think she's still working as an engineer for Atlas Arms. Doesn't tell me about any projects she's working on, though. Need to know basis and all that." Jaune explained, Pyrrha nodding and taking it in.

"Well, you've told me about Valerie and Colette, plus you showed me Simone and Louise's comic…" Pyrrha said.

"Yeah, they were always the worst when I was a kid. Izzy liked messing with my head, but Simone and Louise liked to make me suffer. I still don't know where they got twenty spiders and how they got them into my bedroom, but I still haven't forgiven them. Then there's me… Pyrrha, do you know about me?" Jaune asked jokingly, Pyrrha laughing a bit.

"Well, I'd like to think I do, but I want to know, what made you want to become a Huntsman?" she asked, Jaune rubbing his chin briefly.

"Well, my mom used to tell me stories when I was a kid about the Arc Family. Like the Legend of Claire the Uniter." he said, stopping to sit under a tree. The Atlesian Huntress sat down under a tree across him, crossing her legs and listening patiently. "Claire Delaney was a knight in the days before Vale, born in the nation of Redmoor, but fighting against her home nation. She was known on the battlefield as the Yellow Death or Crocea Mors in the Ancient Tongue, due to her status as one of the greatest fighters and having wiped out entire troops by herself. Of course, she believed that she wasn't the worthy holder of that title and passed it on to her sword. The name soon became one that was passed on for generations, currently at Crocea Mors V." Jaune said, holding up his sword and showing the V etched onto the blade. "During the War of the Nine Nations, she had gathered her own army after leaving the Redmoor Army, continuing her battle. While Claire herself never lead the army, preferring to focus her efforts on combat, history recognizes her as the symbol of the Unified Army of Vale as it is now known, dubbing her Claire the Uniter." Jaune said, Pyrrha noticing there was something missing from the story.

"But how does the Arc name tie into this? Claire Delaney, Crocea Mors, Claire the Uniter. There's nothing about her being an Arc." Pyrrha pointed out, Jaune chuckling a bit.

"Ah yes, the part a lot of people get wrong about the Arc family. Everyone thinks that the first Arc was some sort of great war hero or a master Huntsman, but in reality he was just a farmboy. See, during the War of Nine Nations, Claire had been wounded in battle and was hiding from an enemy squadron in a barn. The barn's owner, Liam Arc, had found her there. Now, Claire was knee-deep in enemy territory and there were wanted posters for her head, so she assumed this would've ended with her pitchforked to his wall, but Liam was a peaceful soul and instead took her into his house. He tended to her wounds, gave her food and shelter. He even swore never to reveal her to the army, reciting the Arc family motto: Loyalty is more valuable than glory. And he had promised to help her. Claire would soon leave, but promised to return one day. Years went on and after the War of Nine Nations had ended and Vale had become the Kingdom that stands today, Claire returned to the farm as promised, soon marrying Liam and moving to the land of Patch with him. When asked why she would come back, she simply said: Loyalty is more valuable than glory." Jaune said, finishing the story.

"Wow… that's quite the history. So Claire had started the line of great Hunters, I take it." Pyrrha said, Jaune nodding.

"Mhm. Of course, neither Liam nor Claire were really happy when their kids went off to become Hunters. They wanted to simply live a life of peace as farmers. And that same thing went on for generations: Children became Hunters, Hunters became Farmers, Farmers became Parents, Parents raise Children and then Children become Hunters… and after seven kids went on to pursue interests outside of farming, my parents gave up and named their youngest Claire, in honor of Claire Delaney. And she absolutely loves being on the farm, always carrying around whatever animal had just been born." Jaune said with a warm smile before laughing. "I still remember her trying to hold up a calf and just falling onto it. It was the most adorable thing you'd ever see." Jaune said, Pyrrha laughing as well.

"Wow, it must've been nice to have so many siblings…" she said, the blonde Huntsman nodding with a smile, rising to his feet.

"Well, that is until they start wanting you to do things for them and tear your soul apart. It must've been great to have things so peaceful." Jaune said, Pyrrha smiling as she got up.

"Well yeah, it was. But I won't lie and say it wasn't lonely. I'd say when I first made friends was when my dad helped me get join Olympus Gym. He was an old rival of Mr. Ritters, so it was a favor. I still remember a lot of my class from there. All great talent and great people…" she said with a tone of remembrance in her voice, looking up at the sky a bit. "Oh! I almost forgot, you had another sister, right?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah, Josephine was after me and before Claire. She's a talented pianist and a total sweetheart… until you make any sort of noise during her playing. Then she turns into a horrible banshee from your nightmares. But that's the Arc family, my parents were good and while they did try to persuade me to focus on farming, I was a stubborn boy and they eventually relented to the fact that I was gonna be a Huntsman. So, how about we talk about your time in Olympus Gym? Was Ritters always that… It's like he came from a completely different planet and is pretending to be like us." he said, Pyrrha laughing heartily at that.

"Yeah, even when he was fighting dad, he'd go one about how he was a tiger made of pain and that he would shatter dad's ribs and ruin my birthday. Ironic that I became his favorite student, isn't it?" Pyrrha said, putting a hand on her chin, rubbing it in thought.

"Including myself, the class was only seven students. There was Diana, who you already know about." she began, Jaune nodding.

"So, why was a pro wrestler training with a Huntress?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha chuckling.

"I haven't been training as a Huntress forever, Jaune. I was a fighter in gladiatorial combat and all three are very similar in training. Diana was really good at the time, one of the few I can remember that could beat me in a one-on-one fight. We'd always try to one-up each other during training. Jaune, you watch VWF, is she still champion?" the Atlesian Huntress asked, Jaune nodding and smiling.

"Yeah, she just defended a couple of days ago against Jogumo, the Queen of Spiders. It was awesome! Especially when Jogumo did her Spider's Crawl and Diana hit Hunter's Moonsault onto her for a two-count! I really thought she had it and…" Jaune said excitedly, stopping himself as Pyrrha stared at him in confusion. "Ehehehehe… anyway… who else was there?" he asked, his partner smiling and thinking of the rest of Ritters' class.

Their journey through the forest continued into the evening, passing by trees with "X"s carved into the wood. "Looks like some of our comrades have passed through. Perhaps we can follow the markers to the temple." Pyrrha said, scanning the forest for another marker. Jaune followed behind her, cutting branches from the trees with his sword.

"It looks like we won't be getting to the end of the exam in one night. Want to help me make a fire?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha quickly reaching into her bag and pulling out a pair of Fire Dust crystals.

"Mhm. We'll need to set up camp somewhere." Pyrrha said, the two gathering wood in the orange glow of the sky. The evening turned to night, the Hunters setting up camp, a fire lit and food cooking.

"Food's coming along good, should be done in about a minute. How's the tent?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha turning from her work on the tent.

"Almost set. Once we get through tonight, we'll try and follow the markers to the temple." Pyrrha said, double checking the tent while Jaune served the food. They heard a low growling, Jaune letting a small chuckle.

"Gee, Pyrrha, I know we've been traveling a lot, but I didn't think you were that hungry." Jaune said, hearing the growl again.

"That's not me... " Pyrrha replied, quickly unsheathing her javelin. Jaune sprung to his pulled Crocea Mors from its scabbard, the Hunters turning their eyes and ears to the forest. The growl was joined by the sound of movement, quick footsteps on the grass, Jaune mentally counting the movements.

"Four.. five… I think there's six of them... We'll need to employ stick and move tactics, try to separate them so they don't gang up on-" he said, cut off by a ear-piercing shriek as one of the Grimm leaped out of the darkness, lunging at the blonde Huntsman. Jaune quickly blocking with his shield, the Grimm latching onto the shield.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed, charging forward and stabbing the Grimm in the head, lodging it into its bone faceplate. She pulled it off Jaune's shield, kicking it hard to dislodge it from the tip of her javelin.

The Grimm stood up on its hindlegs, blood slowly oozing from the wound in its head. They looked at the beast in the faint light of the fire, seeing that it had two sets of glowing red eyes, scaly skin and no forelegs. Jaune's eyes widened, quickly grabbing a piece of wood from the fire and swinging it in front of the Grimm, forcing it to back away from them."RUN!" he shouted, running away from the Grimm, Pyrrha immediately running after him . The Grimm chased after them, the Hunters hearing more footsteps behind them. "Pyrrha! I'll lead the way! You keep them off us!" Jaune ordered, Pyrrha nodding and turning as one of the reptilian Grimm leapt at her, bashing it in the head with her shield and knocking it back. The Grimm advanced on them, Pyrrha hitting them with her javelin, turning to face Jaune quickly.

"They're gaining on us, we need to lose them!" Pyrrha said over the snapping jaws and snarling of the Grimm. Jaune looked around the forest, though the torch gave a limited field of view. They ran further and further, Jaune seeing the reflection of his torch on the ground.

"Huh? What's… Water! Pyrrha! We need to get some distance!" Jaune said, Pyrrha reaching into her bag and grabbing a glowing purple crystal.

The Atlesian Huntress pulled her arm back and threw the crystal, leaping at Jaune and tackling him with a shout of "GET DOWN!" as the crystal smashed against the tree, letting out a burst of lightning and blowing up the surrounding trees, causing them to topple over. The hunters hit the ground with thud, Jaune looking up as the trees fell down, crashing onto some of the Grimm.

"WHAT WAS THAT?! Jaune exclaimed, Pyrrha getting off him and pulling him up to his feet.

"I bought us some time! Come on!" she said, Jaune taking her hand and scrambling back to his feet. He headed toward the reflection, finding a small stream of flowing water, quickly jumping in and following the current, Pyrrha following after him.

The splash of water as they made their steps was soft, the stream barely passing their ankles as they moved quickly but carefully, mindful of any rocks or other Grimm spotting them from the forest. The hunters made a stop at the entrance of a large cave, Jaune holding his hand in front of the fading torch. "We've haven't got a lot of light left, we'll need to get in. We've probably lost those Stalkers by now…" Jaune said, stepping out of the water, his drenched running shoes making an unpleasant squishing noise underneath him as he walked up to the cave, Pyrrha walking backwards behind him, scanning the area around them for any movements in the forest.

"We're safe… for now." Pyrrha said, voicing a shared unpleasant thought of Grimm migrating toward the cave. Jaune walked further into the cave, running his hand along the wall. "Looking for something to place the torch in?" Pyrrha asked, her partner nodding and his continued to search for a crevice in the cave wall before finally managing to roughly wedge it into a set of rocks on the floor.

"There, should give us a few more minutes before it goes out." he said, sitting down to face Pyrrha. Pyrrha sat herself down on a flat stone, letting out a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad we made it this far. Jaune, you said those were Stalkers, right? The reptile Grimm?" Pyrrha asked, trying to remember Professor Oobleck's lesson on the creature, though his notoriously fast cadence made it difficult for many to know what he had said.

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to run. A Stalker's shriek is so loud it draws attention from other packs and soon we would've been overwhelmed. Not to mention their venom, if we had gotten bitten by one of them, the venom it releases would've coagulated our blood slowly and painfully until our blood was like glass." Jaune said, hands tightening at the thought of such a grisly fate.

"So why run into the river?" Pyrrha asked. "To mask our scent, they wouldn't be able to catch us if they couldn't smell us." Jaune answered immediately.

"But wait, don't Grimm hunt by aura and not smell?" Pyrrha inquired.

"Well, most Grimm can see aura and attack, but Stalkers have weaker eyesight and thus rely on scent to track their targets. It's also why they have two sets of eyes as opposed to-" Jaune explained, seeing that Pyrrha's had been focused on something else. "Pyrrha?" he said, snapping his fingers to get her attention.

"Huh? Oh, sorry Jaune. Just trying to get a look at the wall behind you. I think there's some sort of drawing on it." she said, standing up and walking over to the cave wall. Jaune stood up, looking to see a reddish brown painting on the wall, depicting what appeared to be a scorpion. Jaune pulled out the torch gingerly, moving it along the wall to see small stick figures of men with spears drawn and bows firing arrows, all aimed at the scorpion.

"Hrm… looks like a battle with… a Scorpius. You don't think…" Jaune began to ask, the words stopping in his throat. Pyrrha turned her gaze to the looming darkness of the cave's mouth, swallowing nervously.

"I-it's probably dead by this time. The paint looks to have dried into the wall and the weapons are more crude… look, there's symbols beneath the drawing." Pyrrha said, trying to take her eyes off the darkness. Jaune bent down to look, seeing the symbols and nodding.

"It's Ancient Valian, I've seen it in some old textbooks in History Club." he said, looking over the symbols multiple times, studying them carefully. "I can't read them, but it's probably a warning for travelers. But if it's Ancient Valian, then that means whatever's in there is probably long dead." Jaune said, resetting the torch, which was slowly turning to bare embers before their eyes. "We'd better get to sleep. I'll cover the entrance. We still have our bedrolls, right?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha nodding and working to detach her bedroll from the bag. Jaune grabbed one of the sheets, a pair of metal stakes and a hammer, heading toward the cave entrance. The young blonde hammered the sheet over the cave entrance, using skills he had picked up from old family camping trips, he chuckled softly into the night, remembering those days somewhat fondly. He turned to the starlit sky, smiling warmly before lifting the sheet and heading back into the cave to see Pyrrha roasting two small sausages on a finely shaved wooden stick, using the flames of the torch.

"We left most of our rations behind, but I checked our bags and found some sausage. It should get us through the night." Pyrrha explained, pulling the sausages away from the torch and removing from the stick to set on on each of their plates. The two ate in silence, the sausages thankfully cooking well under the low heat of the torch, the casing was crisp and the innards juicy and warm. Jaune handed Pyrrha her canteen of water, drinking from his own before lying down on his bedroll. He pulled up his hood, having sacrificed his sheet for a cover, and turned to watch the torch die out, hearing Pyrrha cover herself as he shut his eyes, trying to sleep.

Hours passed in the night, Jaune unable to sleep as the fear gripped him, leaving him in the darkness. He tossed and turned, tightening his closed eyes as the sounds of the sheet rustling in the wind echoed throughout the cave. He heard a loud, shrill clicking noise echoing from within the cave, his eyes shooting open. He sat up, looking into the depths of the cave and seeing a faint glow. He slowly moved towards Pyrrha, shaking her shoulder. "Pyrrha. Pyrrha!" Jaune whispered frantically, Pyrrha letting out a groan.

"Unh… whazzit, Jaune…" she mumbled, turning her head with a half-open eye.

"There's something in the cave! We have to get out of here!" he said quickly and silently. Pyrrha quickly sat up, tossing aside her sheet.

"What?!" Pyrrha exclaimed, seeing the glowing light grow brighter. Without a single word, the Hunters grabbed their weapons and ran out of the cave, Jaune hearing the clicking noise grow louder behind them.

The two left the cave, running deep into the forest before Jaune came to a stop, outside the cave, stumbling some from his lack of sleep. "You might have to go without-"Jaune began before Pyrrha ran over to him, grabbing one of his arms and putting it over her shoulder.

"I'm not leaving you behind, Jaune. Got it?" she said, wrapping her arms around his legs and squatting down to lift him up onto her back. "Now come on, Jaune! We have to get out of here before the-" Pyrrha began as the cave entrance exploded, a massive black scorpion Grimm rushing out, its stinger glowing a bright gold, bone plating covered in scars and russet stains. It let out another series of clicks as Pyrrha turned and ran, moving as fast as her legs could take her as the Scorpius chased after the two, clearing the forest with its pincer.


	48. Final Exam, Part 5

Ren charged through the Emerald Forest, ears and eyes at full attention as he rapidly scanned every tree he passed, listening for the sound of movement. He leapt over a nearby stream, continuing to weave through the trees, stopping as he noticed one marked with an X. "...No. She wouldn't use something so small to lead me to her." Ren said quickly, continuing his search for Nora. The morning sun was shining brightly, allowing him a clear view of the forest when he stopped, hearing a high-pitched squeak echo from the trees. The Huntsman turned his head in the direction he heard the squeak, clearing his throat and letting out a squeak of his own, lower in pitch and sounded like a strained, prolonged 'Ehhh' than an actual animal call. The high-pitched squeak repeated, Ren nodding and turning to the direction of the squeaking, running toward the source. The grass around him grew taller and thicker, soon beginning to slow Ren down as he went deeper, letting out another squeak to signal his location.

Rather than the high-pitched squeak he was accustomed to, Ren began to hear a soft, low hiss and the sound of grass parting around him. He unhooked a longbow with sharp metal limbs and a metal riser wrapped in green-dyed leather, three buttons on the front end of the riser. He quickly pressed the topmost button, a thin line of iridescent energy shooting between the tips of the limbs, creating a string of pure energy. Channeling his aura into his hand, Ren pulled back the string and waited as the sound of parted grass came to a halt behind him. Ren turned to see the head of a giant snake with a black head and upper half, its lower end white. It looked down at Ren with solid blood-red eyes, flicking its coal black tongue before lunging at its target with a hiss. Ren aimed the bow; an ethereal, emerald green bow forming around him, releasing it once the arrow was fully formed. The arrow fired at the snake Grimm, striking the Grimm's open mouth as it lunged upon its target, briefly stunning it. "An Ouroboros…" Re thought, pulling back the string again and watching as the stunned Grimm shook off the attack quickly and lunged at him, Ren jumping out of the way and pulling back his bow again, firing another shot. The Ouroboros charged at Ren, slamming the young martial artist and sending him crashing into a nearby tree

Ren got back to his feet with a groan of pain, ducking down as the Ouroboros lunged at him again, sinking its large fangs into the tree and uprooting it. The snake Grimm shook its head, throwing the tree at its prey, Ren rolling away from the tree and reaching into his bag and pulling out a cartridge with six small vials of white Dust, loading it into a hollow opening in the riser. He pressed the middle button, the iridescent string turning white. The Ouroboros lunged toward him, Ren pulling back his bow and firing a white ethereal arrow, creating a thin sheet of ice over the Grimm's face. He pressed the topmost button of the riser, the string dissipating and the limbs separating into twin khopesh swords, Ren spinning them in his hands before charging toward the Ouroboros, the serpentine Grimm breaking the ice with ease and letting out a loud hiss of anger, lunging at its prey. Ren quickly jumped, going over the Grimm's head and landing down, stabbing the khopeshes into the Ourboros' head, gripping the hilts of his swords tightly as the inky blood began to ooze its way up through the scales.

The Ouroboros flailed its head violently, attempting to shake off the human that had perched himself on there. Ren struggled to stay on as the blood began to coat the Grimm's head, making the scales he stood on slick and harder to hold his footing. He pushed further into the skull, the Ouroboros screeching in pain. However, another sound broke out against the screech of the Ouroboros. A loud, high-pitched squeak that caused him to look up and see Nora falling from the sky with a wide smile of manic glee, Magnhild lifted over her head and sparking with lightning. Ren slowly began to pull his blades from the snake Grimm's skull, the blood helping to slide it out as Nora's hammer slammed into it, shattering the skull plate of the Ouroboros and breaking through the scales. A spray of black gore burst forth, shockwaves from the attack launching Ren off the Ouroboros. Nora quickly sprung herself off her hammer, flying towards Ren and tackling him with a cry of "RESCUE HUG!" as she tightly wrapped herself around her friend's waist, driving them into the ground faster. Within seconds, the two crashed onto the grass, creating a small crater where they had landed. Nora pulled herself off Ren, smiling widely and putting her hands to her hips before letting out a hearty laugh. "See? I told you sloth calls were a great idea!" she exclaimed, Ren groaning in pain and exasperation. Nora's rescue hug gave him little time to brace himself for impact or channel his aura to protect himself.

Nora climbed out of the crater, offering Ren a hand out, which he took, climbing out himself. "It did help. So how did you get so much momentum to kill the Ouroboros? You had to go through bone plate and scales to get to its brain…" Ren said, imagining a more sophisticated strategy of figuring the necessary trajectory and momentum to create enough force to harm the Grimm and mentally calculating in his head when Nora let out another guffaw.

"I jumped off a cliff!" Nora exclaimed, Ren's calculations coming to a complete stop.

"I see…" he said vacantly, staring off into the forest.

"Yep! Now come on! Let's get ourselves cleaned up! Wear that Grimm blood too long and your coat's gonna be black!" Nora said, grabbing Ren's arm and dragging him off as he continued to be lost in an absence of thought. The two soon found a nearby river, Nora diving in without a second's hesitation, Ren soon jumping in himself. "Ahhh! Water's nice and warm! I needed this…" Nora said, swimming back toward the river wall and putting her shoulders up for support. Ren let out a relaxed sigh of his own, breaking out of his stupor and dunking his head to clean the blood from his hair.

"Sometimes I still wonder how you can treat this like fun." Ren mentioned, swimming slowly over to the small wall of rocks on the riverbank to sit next to the orange haired firecracker of a friend.

"I don't think I could fight as well as I do if I wasn't at least enjoying myself. I guess I just don't want to be bogged down in the situation I'm in sometimes." She replied, grabbing her hammer and planting it head down in the water, she softly began to spin it from side to side to swish off more blood.

"So being excited makes you more focused?" Ren asked, his long black hair lightly floating on top of the stream, the motion of the water making the end of his ponytail stream off to the side.

"Yeah! I feel like being a huntress means I should at least take some enjoyment in fighting, after all… We all chose to be here, right?" She said, softly stretching her arms over her head before sinking into the water a bit lower, now blowing bubbles with her mouth as she listened to Ren, who was quietly looking at his own reflection in the flowing stream as his expression softened.

"I guess that's true, but I don't think I've ever gotten enjoyment out of being in such danger." He mused, his hand coming up out of the water and cupping it in his hands, before the water began to drip between his fingers.

"But you like fighting, right? You dedicated your life to it, and every time we're together, you're always practicing for the ultimate fight against someone you don't even know." Ren nodded slightly at her observation… It was strange to hear words from Nora like that, her perception was a lot better than she let on. "What do you feel when you fight, if it isn't fun?" she continued to question as Ren began to inspect his weapon for any damage, sitting up slightly higher out of the water.

"Clarity." Ren started, fiddling with the chamber near the hilt of the bow where he inserted Dust. "The world can be distracting… But when I'm in a battle, it's like everything fades into the background and I can finally focus on what matters, my actions. Every single twitch of my limbs, every breath I take… every single mistake I can feel that I can improve on and feel the surge of victory, a result of getting everything just right." He said, detaching the bow into two swords and slowly sliding them back into the sheathes crossed over his shoulders with a metallic ring.

"Then… I'm actually not sure what you call 'fun' then. I don't think you've ever said anything about that." She replied, standing back up in the water and pulling her hands together behind her back, bending forward and letting her shoulders pop and loosen up so she can carry around Magnhild more effectively.

"...I don't really know either." Ren trailed off, looking away from her and following the water down the stream and into the shroud of the forest.

"Maybe you could try seeing what other people find fun and spend time with them." She said, grabbing a strap and hefting it over her shoulder, using a leather strap to carry her hammer over her shoulder without having to carry it.

"I don't think that would help all that much." Ren admitted, his hand reaching over to rub his other shoulder from feeling slightly uncomfortable. Nora placed her hands on her hips, turning to face him with a glare of disapproval.

"Have you ever chose to spend time with anyone outside of necessity? Not counting me as an example, when was the last time you did that?" Nora asked him, Ren's eyes trailing up and to the right as he tried to recall.

"...I think that was roughly 3 months ago, back when we were training Jaune and just before he ran off to find Blake at the docks." he recalled, gently taking steps behind Nora's as they both began to climb out of the water and back onto the shore.

"Friends don't have several month long gaps between wanting to spend time with them, especially if they're our roommates like Jaune and Pyrrha. Maybe you'll find something to do if you just take your time and listen to them." Nora said, pressing her hand against her hair and running it through gently to squeeze out the water, her hair spiking up before she working on pushing it down. Ren wrung out his ponytail, letting Nora's words hang in his head for some time as they walked.

"You're right I guess it's been difficult to adjust when I've been friends with you for so long. How about this? After the final exam, I'll talk with Jaune about going to see a movie or-" Ren said when he heard a sudden rustling and coming to a stop, Nora picking up on his lack of footsteps immediately and turning around.

"Ren, what's the hold up?" she asked, Ren taking a brief second to look behind him before breaking out into a run, Nora immediately chasing after him.

"We're being chased! We need to keep moving to get some distance!" Ren said quickly, picking up the pace as he heard the sound of trees falling behind them.

"Any idea what it is?" Nora asked as she caught up to Ren and was running side-by-side with him.

"It's the Ouroboros." he said bluntly, unhooking his bow while Nora began to unstrap Magnhild.

"Of course! Damned things have to be killed twice before they can stay down! We're gonna have to hit him hard, since this one is more durable!" Nora said, reaching for a small black leather pouch on her bag, Ren shaking his head at that.

"No. Ragnarok won't be necessary for this. Not unless we need it as a last resort." Ren said, Nora nodding and moving her hand away from the pouch. The two listened for the sound of movement behind them, hearing nothing.

"We've got the distance, let's hit him where it hurts." Nora said, the two hunters turning around and awaiting the Ouroboros, seeing nothing there.

As they stood waiting, they heard the low groan of a falling tree behind them turning to see the tree come down. Within seconds, Nora had smacked the tree with her hammer, breaking it in half and sending the halves flying into the the forest. Echoes of hard thuds came through the forest, Ren drawing his cartridge of Ice Dust and loading it into his bow while Nora moved herself behind Ren, Magnhild fully drawn. The Ouroboros soon appeared, head and body now a pure white with no skull plating on its head, coiling around the two humans. The snake Grimm's body drew closer with each passing second, Nora dropping her weapon and sticking out both hands as far as she could, catching the Ouroboros and halting its attempt to ensnare them. What little light they had around them was cut off by the looming head of the Ouroboros, jaw open wide as it chose its target, lunging straight for Nora. Ren jumped onto Nora's back, Nora bending forward as he grabbed the Grimm's fangs. The pair struggled against the Ouroboros, Nora digging deep into the dirt, bending further forward as Ren pushed against her back, holding back the fangs and staring into the gaping maw of the serpentine beast. Murky violet saliva slowly dripped off, hitting the sleeves of his tailcoat and dissolving the fabric, a small layer of aura protecting Ren from the acidic fluid.

"If you've got an idea of how we get out of this, I'm all ears!" Nora said with a note of strain in her voice, Ren feeling his shoulders begin to buckle under the pressure of the Ouroboros.

"Angry Crow Takes Flight!" Ren commanded, Nora bending down, her arms barely able to hold as the Ouroboros tightened around them.

"One… two…. THREE!" Nora shouted, leaping off the ground and grabbing onto Ren's legs, putting them over her shoulders as the two leapt over the Ouroboros' head. With a single pull, Ren had ripped the fangs straight from the snake Grimm's mouth, blood rushing from its gums, and tossed one to Nora as they landed onto its head, slipping and sliding down the long body as the Ouroboros let out a pained cry. The two stabbed the fangs into the head, managing to barely pierce the white scales as they stopped their fall, getting back to their feet.

"We've taken out its fangs, now… we take out its eyes." Ren said, Nora nodding as they climbed back onto the top of the snake Grimm's head, using their fangs as makeshift climbing hooks. Once on top, the two aimed carefully and stabbed the fangs into the crimson eyes of the Ouroboros, twin geysers of black gore spraying out as the ivory beast shook its head furiously. Nora held her footing briefly before charging towards the falling Ren with another cry of "RESCUE HUG!" and tackling them both to the ground, Ren focusing his aura properly this time as he was more prepared for a fall.

Nora got off Ren quickly, Ren leaping back to his feet as the Ouroboros flailed, slamming its head against nearby trees and knocking them over. The beast let out a cry of pain and frustration as it attempted to sniff out its prey, Ren drawing his bow, activating the energy string and pulling back. A white, ethereal arrow began to form, glowing brighter the longer he held the string. "He keeps moving his head… I can't aim it properly…" Ren said, Nora grinning widely.

"Leave it to me, Ren!" she shouted in reply, running over and shouting at the blind Ouroboros. "HEY SNAKEY! OVER HERE! TASTY HUMAN RIGHT HERE!" she yelled, waving her arms and picking up rocks from the ground to throw at the blinded Grimm. The Ouroboros turned toward Nora, raising its head and opening its jaw once more. "That's it! Open wide!" Nora said, encouraging the Ouroboros to eat her, spreading her arms out to emphasize the width of its gaping maw. The Ouroboros lunged at her, catching her in his mouth and and quickly shutting its jaw, lifting its head from the ground. "Nora!" Ren exclaimed in shock, nearly losing grip of the string. He had known Nora for years and while things she did were strange to him, there was some semblance of logic to them. But her willingly going into the mouth of a Grimm was not one of those times.

Ren stood stunned, holding the string tightly when he heard the sounds of struggle from the Ouroboros. He looked to see its mouth open, Nora slowly prying it open with her hands. Ren watched in awe and confusion as the orange-haired huntress forced the Grimm's mouth open and let out a high-pitched squeak. Ren lifted up his bow, responding with his strained low squeak, Nora leaping out of the Ouroboros' mouth as he fired the arrow, striking true and freezing the giant snake Grimm's head within seconds. The Ouroboros struggled to escape, jaw torn by Nora's grip and too weak to fight, chipping the thick ice on its head with the trees as its head fell to the ground. Nora lifted Magnhild up high and slammed it down onto the frozen head of the Ouroboros, shattering it into chunks of black ice and coating them in the Grimm's blood once more. "Ehehehe… guess we're gonna need another bath, huh?" Nora said, rubbing the back of her head.

After another dip in the river, the two close friends continued their journey through the forest, Ren taking the lead and stopping, catching Nora with his arm as she caught up. The two heard a low roaring echoing through the forest. "Ursi. We'll need to tread carefully in order to not alert them to our presence." Ren said, turning his ears to get a better idea of where the Ursi were migrating. Nora cracked her knuckles, a wide smile forming over her face.

"I've got an idea!" Nora said, words that Ren would've dreaded were it not for her successful track record so far. Nora charged ahead, Ren following after her as she pulled a length of rope from her pouch.

"You're not going to do what I think you're doing, are you?" Ren asked, Nora turning and smiling, a gleam in her eye.

"...I don't know what I was expecting."


	49. Final Exam, Part 6

"RUBY! I told you this was a terrible idea!" Weiss shouted through the harsh winds blowing against the two as the Nevermore flew through the Emerald Forest, each flap of its wings creating another gust of wind on the young Huntresses. Ruby focused her eyes down on the ground, scanning the ground beneath them and seeing nothing but green. "Where are we going?! We're so high up I can't see anything!" Weiss exclaimed, squinting her eyes as the wind blew hard against her face. Ruby quickly pointed down with an excited grin.

"I see it! There's some gold light over there! It's gotta be the temple!" she called to Weiss.

"Okay, so how do we get... down from… here..." Weiss asked, her voice trailing off as Ruby's smile widened.

"We're going to jump down!" Ruby said, Weiss' eyes widening in shock and dismay.

"Out of all of the things you've ever said to me in nearly a year that I've known you, I think that might be what could possibly be described as THE STUPIDEST DAMN IDEA I'VE EVER HEA-" Weiss said, Ruby cutting her off.

"It's gonna work, okay?! We made the jump out of the airship just fine, why wouldn't we make this?"

"WE HAD PARACHUTES YOU DOLT! This is CLEARLY different! And this isn't an airship! IT"S A GIANT DEATH BIRD!" Weiss shouted, agitation with her partner each flap of the Nevermore's wings.

"...Oh, right. Well, the options we have left are jump or we can keep riding the Nevermore until he finds us and eats us!" Ruby argued, Weiss was loathe to admit that she was right on this one. "Here, I'll go first and when I land, I'll let off a flare to signal you to jump!" Ruby said, Weiss nodding as Ruby moved herself carefully, looking down out at the temple.

"Are you sure this will work, Ruby?" Weiss asked with a note of anxiety in her voice. Ruby gave Weiss a thumbs up and grin of reassurance.

"I have NO IDEA! Into the breach!" Ruby shouted, diving off the Nevermore's talon. Weiss finally looked down, watching Ruby's red cape flap in the breeze, her mouth agape in shock at her partner's brazenness.

"...I didn't know what I was expecting." Blake said as she saw Nora and Ren riding on the back of a bucking Ursa, Ren rehooking his bow as the remaining pack moved away from them.

"WHAT?!" Yang cried in confusion, Blake nodding in agreement.

"Nora! We're too far from the bridge! Steer the Ursa closer!" Ren ordered, Nora shaking her head.

"I gotta better idea!" Nora called back, giving the Ursa a hard kick to the side. "Heeya! Ride to the end, ya big, evil fuzzball!" she shouted at the Ursa, kicking it again as it ran faster and faster. The Ursa leapt off the cliff, Blake and Yang staring in shock and confusion as Nora turn to Ren and shouted "NOW!" They jumped off as the Ursa began to fall, Ren and Nora landing on the plateau in front of the Huntresses. "Nailed it!" Nora said happily as Ren dusted himself off.

"Nora… don't do that again…" Ren said while Nora turned to watch the Ursa fall into the abyss.

"That… Was… AWESOME!" Nora shouted, arms in the air before slowly falling onto her back in front the other three.

"Well, you two certainly know how to make an entrance…" Blake said with a note of sarcasm in her voice.

"Nora doesn't do anything unless she can do it her own way." Ren replied, looking down at Nora, who smiled as she sat up.

"That's because my way is the best way!" she said as she stood up.

"Well, you made it, so her way has some merit. It was successful… if confusing..." Blake said, turning her head to Yang who still had her jaw wide open.

"What's the matter, Yang? Cat got your tongue?" Blake said with a smirk and a wink. Yang shut her mouth, shooting Blake an annoyed glare before turning back to Ren and Nora.

"So Ren, what's up?" she asked, Ren looking up at the sky.

"Ruby." he said calmly, Yang blinking and raising a finger.

"Wha-" _Wham!_

Ruby pulled back her hood, looking down and smiling happily. "Hey, sis! Thanks for breaking my fall there!" Ruby said as Yang let out a pained ground.

"I think my kidneys are in my throat now…" she said, Ruby quickly scrambling off of her sister and rubbing the back of her head nervously.

"Hehehehehehe.. Sorry.. Hey Blake! Got the temple first, huh? Where's your partner?" Ruby asked, Blake giving a small smile and wave.

"Oh, hey Ruby. Well, she's on the floor right now and trying to breathe." she said, Yang moaning and staring at the sky.

"Whoa, you and Yang? Never thought you'd get along enough to get through this." Ruby said, Blake chuckling.

"Well, we're just full of surprises. How you holding up, Yang?" Blake asked, turning to her partner.

"...There's a big bird in the sky…" Yang said, everyone else looking up to see the Nevermore circling the temple.

"Oh yeah! That's the Nevermore we rode to the temple! Weiss is still on there!" Ruby said, reaching into her bag as Yang slowly rose to her feet.

"So, is everyone going to arrive here by Grimm?" Blake asked sarcastically, the sound of trees falling over echoing from the forest. The gathered Hunters turned to the bridge entrance, nearby bushes rustling as Pyrrha burst out from them, exhaustively carrying Jaune on her back as she ran out onto the bridge. Before the Hunters could greet their friends, the falling trees grew louder and louder, a massive scorpion Grimm bursting forth from the trees and letting out a loud, shrill clicking as it continued to charge at Pyrrha and Jaune. "...Oh." Blake said, at a loss for words at the sight before her.

"IS THAT A SCORPIUS?!" Yang exclaimed, eyes as wide as saucers as Pyrrha ran past them and the other Hunters.

"Freeze it! _Freeze it!_ " Pyrrha shouted though pitched breath. Ruby, Blake, Yang and Nora quickly pulled out ice crystals from their bags, Yang and Ruby loading their weapons while Blake cut a slit into the crystal and Nora throwing hers into the air. The four Huntresses launched ice attacks; Ruby created a weak ice slash, Yang clapped her hands together and charged the ice crystals to nearly bursting before launching ice energy, Blake tossed her crystal and Nora struck hers with Magnhild, sending the shards at the Scorpius.

Within seconds, the Scorpius was encased in ice, struggling futilely in its frozen prison. "Whoa… Pyrrha, did you run here all the way with a Scorpius chasing you?" Ruby asked, Pyrrha nodding and gently lowering Jaune onto the bridge.

"While carrying me no less.." Jaune said weakly, Ruby's eyes lighting up.

"That is so cool! I thought your first Mistral Regional Tournament fight was awesome, but that's like... " Ruby said, stopping and counting her fingers quickly. "Twenty times cooler!" she said excitedly, wide grin across her face, Pyrrha smiling back and ruffling the younger Huntress' hair.

"Thank you, Ruby. So, it looks like we're all here…" Pyrrha said, looking over the collected group of Hunters. She noticed one person who was unaccounted for. "Where's Weiss?" she asked, Ruby's starstruck eyes changing to eyes of panic.

"Oh crap! Weiss is still on the Nevermore!" she exclaimed, scrambling into her bag and pulling out a light yellow crystal.

"She's on the WHAT?" Jaune said in surprise as Ruby cracked the crystal against the floor of the bridge, rearing back her arm and throwing the crystal into the air, The crystal exploded into a flash of light, everyone covering their eyes and allowing the flash to pass before looking up at the Nevermore as it circled the plateau. They watched, soon seeing a fleck in the sky drop from the Nevermore.

"Alright! She jumped!" Ruby said excitedly, pointing to her as the others cheered with exception of Ren and Blake. Blake squinted her eyes, watching Weiss make her drop and adjusting her beret slightly. Her eyes shot open within seconds.

"She's not diving! She's falling!" Blake said, the cheering coming to a stop.

"Oh no! What do we do?!" Ruby said, panicking as she tried to keep her eyes on Weiss. Without a second thought, Jaune turned his head to Nora.

"Nora, throw me at her!" he said, heads turning toward the exhausted blonde.

"Jaune, are you sure?" Pyrrha asked, Jaune nodding his head.

"We haven't got time to think over plans, we've gotta act fast." he said, Pyrrha nodding and stepping back. Nora grabbed the top of her head and chin, cracking her neck and gently kicking Jaune onto his back. She grabbed his legs, tucking them under her arms and began to spin Jaune, everyone quickly moving back so as to avoid Jaune's head. The blonde Huntsman began to scream, a scream born of fear of regret. "No no NO NO NO!" Jaune shouted as his head passed around the gathered crowd, Nora picking up speed with each rotation before finally launching him into the air.

Jaune continued to scream as he arced through the air, the wind blowing his hair back as he continued to go up to the sky, slowing down the higher he got. His screaming soon quieted as he came to a stop, hearing a higher-pitched scream coming from above. He quickly held out his arms as Weiss fell onto his chest, quickly grabbing her.

"Gotcha!" Jaune said, Weiss stopping her screams as she opened her eyes to see Jaune.

"J-Jaune?!" Weiss exclaimed in shock, the two picking up speed as they began to fall down toward the bridge. "Jaune! We're still falling!" Weiss shrieked, Jaune simply smiling and shutting his eyes.

"Just hold on tight!" Jaune shouted, his body beginning to slowly glow white. The glow began to spread past him and covered them both, Weiss looking over his shoulder to see the smooth stone of the bridge. The two soon landed with a soft crash, leaving cracks in the bridge.

Weiss got up without a twinge of pain. "I-I'm safe... thank you, Jaune. I must admit, when I first met you, I thought you were just some dumb farmboy who wasn't going to make it past the entrance exam. But you've shown exceptional bravery and limitless compassion... And you've been knocked out… great." Weiss said, looking at the unconscious Jaune lying there as a rush of footsteps could be heard behind her. Ren quickly knelt down, putting two fingers to Jaune's neck and shutting his eyes.

"...His aura's depleted, but he's alive. We should get him inside before the Scorpius breaks free." Ren said, picking Jaune up and putting his arm over his shoulder. The Hunters headed into the temple, Pyrrha helping Ren carry Jaune in. They walked through the open doorway down the hall in the chamber Blake and Yang had claimed their chess pieces.

"Any time on when the Scorpius will break free?" Pyrrha asked the group.

"Hrm… well, if you were all using grade 4 Ice dust, we'll have about an hour." Weiss said. "I'm frankly more concerned about the Nevermore that somebody had thought to bring with us!" she said hotly, Ruby glaring at her.

"Look, you didn't have a better plan, and it got us here in nearly record time! Aren't we supposed to be taking out Grimm anyway?" Ruby said, Weiss turning to look at her.

"Beowolves we can fight! Boarbatusks we can fight! We run from things like Nevermores and Scorpii! You may be a Huntress, but you're a teenager with little to no actual field experience. How in the world do you expect to fight these things?" she shot back, Ren clearing his throat slightly.

"We won't need to worry as much about the Nevermore unless we draw its attention due to its poor eyesight." he explained, Ruby smirking triumphantly.

"See, Snow Queen? The Nevermore won't come after us!" Ruby said as if that finished the argument.

"Yes, but there's still the frozen Scorpius that we can't fight, farmgirl!" Weiss pointed out, the vitriol between the two growing.

"Get off my back, okay! Don't act like this isn't your first time out in the field either!" Ruby shouted, getting up close to Weiss.

"Why don't you stop rushing into everything and making things worse? You did it four times in this excursion alone! This isn't your little woods by the stream back home in Patch! We're here to fight monsters!" Weiss shouted back, the two going nose to nose with the rest of the group trying to speak up.

"Uh, Weiss… perhaps we should save this for another time? We have little time and-" Pyrrha began, Weiss turning and glaring at her coldly.

"This is important, Pyrrha! Why do you insist on acting like a child?! You're almost fifteen and yet you treat this whole thing like a game!" Weiss yelled out, Pyrrha backing away.

"Ruby, we've got to focus, you and Weiss can go at each other later if you want, but-" Blake said, trying to get through to her friend, putting a hand on her shoulder only to get shoved away.

"Butt out, Blake! Why do you act like you're better than everyone?! You've screwed up before but it's my mistakes that are more important, right?!" Ruby yelled back. "Everybody puts my mistakes under a microscope… I'm tired of being treated like I need help!"

"And I'm tired of you dragging me down, we wouldn't even BE in this situation if you just didn't even enroll, Ruby… You're a walking mistake!"

"At least I actually face down my problems, you're nothing but a coward, Weiss. If I'm gonna die, I'll die on my feet, not blaming someone else for my mistakes. Snow Queen!"

"And while you're dead on your feet, I'll still be alive and able to fight, so tell me who's the winner then? Who is the better of the two then, Farmgirl?!" Weiss shouted, Ruby about to open her mouth when a scream echoed throughout the temple, a bright yellow light brightening the chamber. The arguing Huntresses stopped and turned to see Yang glaring at them both, teeth gritted and aura burning bright as she grabbed both by the collars of their shirts and lifted them into the air.

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP! IN CASE YOU'VE FORGOTTEN, WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A LIFE AND DEATH SITUATION AND NOBODY GIVES A DAMN ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL!" she shouted, Ruby and Weiss feeling the heat of her aura against their necks. "You two are going to sit down and shut up until we think of a plan to get out of here ALIVE. You got that, dumbasses?" Yang asked, the heat dying down slightly. The two nodded as Yang set them down, Blake and Team ANVL staring at Yang in shock. "Look, I get that you two hate each other, but you're going to have three more years of the school if we make it out of here. You're going to have to live with each other sooner rather than later. If me and Blake can get along, then you two have NO excuse. I assume none of us have fantasies about being buried in a ditch before we even become hunters." Yang said, the words ringing true for Ruby and Weiss, who simply nodded and stayed quiet. The group began to gather in a circle, Jaune slowly coming to.

"Unh… where am I?" he asked as he sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"The Temple of the Goddess. You passed out and we're planning for how to get our relics to the temple... " Blake explained, letting the thought linger as the group soon came to a realization.

"The relics!" Ruby exclaimed and standing up, looking around at the circle of marble altars with different chess pieces on each altar; two white knight pieces, four white rooks and four black pawns.

"Teams are formed by members grabbing matching pieces, each piece has a signal device that picks up to prevent relic trading." Blake explained.

"Ohh… where'd you learn that?" Ruby asked, Blake blinking before answering.

"Another team passed through and told us. Me and Yang have the white knight pieces." she said, Ruby immediately grabbing a white knight.

Weiss got up quietly, looking over at the the pieces with a furrowed brow. She could choose the white knight piece and be teamed with Ruby, someone who hated her guts and she felt mutual disdain for. She looked at the white rook, thinking of potential partners; Pyrrha Nikos, a five-time regional champion and top rank student. Lie Ren, the martial artist who took her to her limit in the finals of the entrance exam. Nora Valkyrie, one of the few she didn't want to partner with in spite of her impressive strength thanks to her boisterous nature. And finally there was Jaune Arc, a Huntsman of a long lineage who had already saved her life once. She reached for a white rook piece, hand shaking slightly as she moved closer. " _Even if one of the other four joins with Ruby, I'll still have a strong team behind me..._ " she thought, hand hovering around the rook when she stopped, pulling her hand away and turning to Ruby.

"Ruby... I know I can be… difficult. But no matter what, we have to make this partnership works. Not for us, not because Yang threatened us… we have to do it for Blake." she said, turning and nodding to Blake before turning back to Ruby. "She's our friend and if I go onto another team just because I couldn't deal with you, I'd just be cutting myself off from my friend and upsetting her just to spite you. So, partners?" she asked, offering Ruby a hand. Ruby looked at it briefly before smiling and taking it.

"Partners…" Ruby said, shaking Weiss' hand and going attempting to pull her in for a hug. "Friends?" she asked, Weiss putting her other hand on Ruby's head and gently pushing her back.

"Let's not push it." Weiss said, letting go of Ruby's hand and grabbing the white knight piece. Ruby smiled and gave a double thumbs up to Blake and Yang, Blake sighing in relief and Yang letting out a cheer.

"Finally! Alright, guys! You're up!" Yang said, turning to Team ANVL.

ANVL moved up to the circle of altars, Pyrrha helping Jaune to his feet and walking him to an altar. Without any words spoken, the four each grabbed a white rook piece and sitting down at the altars. Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang sat themselves at the white knight altars, Ren reaching into his bag and pulling out a rolled sheet of leather, unfurling the sheet and pulling out a bottle of ink and a small brush. He uncapped the bottle and began to draw on the leather, making a rough representation of the plateau they stood on, showing the frozen Scorpius and the looming Nevermore over the temple. "Wow Ren… that's really good." Jaune said, Ren nodding and setting down the brush. "Annnd now to ruin it with my strategic doodles." Jaune said, picking up the brush and dipping it ink. He began to draw images of the eight Hunters in different positions with arrows pointing outward and inward from them.

"The most important thing is to keep the two Grimm separate from each other, we won't be able to fight the Scorpius if we get ambushed by the Nevermore from an unexpected angle. We'll need to finish one while a small team distracts the other long enough for the rest of us to attack it while it's busy." Jaune began, Ruby's team taken slightly aback by his sudden flash of intellect. "I know I'm going to not contribute much from being so tired… " he said, pointing to the caricature of himself at the front of the group, closest to the Scorpius. "But I'll be bait for the Scorpius, it will put us in a good position to attack it on the land when it breaks free from the ice dust we trapped it in. I'm thinking Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren can fight it, while Ruby and Blake use their mobility to distract the Nevermore, Yang and Weiss can run assistance between the two fights as needed while I try to keep the Scorpius' attention. If we be- … _Once_ we beat the Scorpius, we have to perform an all out assault on the Nevermore to kill it as fast as we can and treat the wounded. " Jaune finished, seven pairs of eyes following his every arm movement, taking in the whole plan.

"...Jaune, how did you come up with this in ten minutes?" Blake asked, Jaune shrugging his shoulders.

"I just thought it'd be a good idea. When I was a kid, we'd play Kingdoms and Izzy would always pick me to be her advisor since I came up with the best strategies. Five conquests as Atlas, three as Vale, two as Mistral and one as Vacuo. The Vacuo one was the toughest, but we pulled it off." Jaune said, the amazed stares of the group turning into a look of faltering confidence.

"I don't feel so good about this plan…" Weiss said nervously.

"Well, it's the only plan we got, and we've got little time to make another. Everyone ready your weapons, we've got ten minutes before the Scorpius breaks from the ice and the open doorway means we can't barricade the temple." Jaune said, standing up from his altar. The remaining Hunters got up to prepare for the fight, checking their weapons and seeing what they had left for supplies.

Dust cartridges and crystals were passed around, Weiss pulling a bandolier from her bag and Blake helping her put it on. Ren loaded his bow with lightning dust, carrying cartridges from the others. Ruby loaded a wind crystal into her scythe while Yang reloaded fire crystals into her gauntlets. Pyrrha walked up to Jaune as he was overlooking a round crystal that glowed a reddish violet. "You made this, Nora?" Jaune asked, Nora nodding excitedly.

"It's Ragnarok, a mix of Grade Five Fire and Grade Four Thunder. If anything goes wrong, just give the order and I'll toss this bad boy!" Nora said with a gleam in her eye, Jaune slowly handing the crystal back to Nora, careful to not let it slip from his hands.

"Only if we're on the brink on the death…" he said, Pyrrha patting him on the shoulder.

"We're almost ready to go." Pyrrha said, Jaune nodding and heading for the doorway, Ruby catching up with him.

The two teams stepped out through the doorway into the light of high noon, the looming shadow of the Nevermore passing over them as it circled. Ruby and Jaune lead the way, Ruby gripping the pole of Crescent Rose as Jaune slid his arm through his sheath. Weiss and Pyrrha walked behind them, Weiss spinning the barrel of Myrtenaster and Pyrrha cracking her shoulders. Behind them were Blake and Ren, Blake running her thumb gently along the blade of Gamble Shroud, Ren breathing slowly and shutting his eyes. At the tail end were Yang and Nora, Yang glowing a soft yellow, the smile faded from Nora's face as she marched behind her friend. The air was stiff for the teams, a grim resolve washed over them as they moved closer to the frozen form of the Scorpius.

The ice had melted and cracked, shaking as the Scorpius gained more and more freedom. Jaune sat down on the bridge floor, crossing his legs, slouching forward and waiting with his eyes fixed on the ice. "We've got one more minute before it breaks…" Jaune said as Ruby pulled back her scythe, putting one foot forward and watching the ice. Jaune gripped the hilt of Crocea Mors V, turning and nodding to Ruby.

"If we're gonna die… we'll die on our feet." Ruby said, staring hard at the Scorpius and hearing sounds of affirmation behind her. With one final loud crack, the ice had shattered, the Scorpius letting out a shriek of fury as it charged straight for the humans that had encased it in a frozen block. Jaune stood up, drawing his sword quickly as Ruby shouted "INTO THE BREACH!" the two teams leaping into action as the Nevermore caught sight of them and began to dive down towards the bridge.


	50. Final Exam, Part 7

"Nora, Restrict its movement!" Jaune ordered as she leapt up into the air, hammer over the back of her head as she smashed it firmly into the ground just in front of the beast with enough force to cause the rocks to shoot up from the ground in front of it. The Scorpius backed away, raising its golden stinger and aiming for the orange-haired human. The stinger came down quickly only to be parried to the side by Pyrrha's shield as she rolled to stop it from attacking her twice, turning to Jaune and nodding. "Right, we'll need to take out the stinger! Ren, aim for the tail!" he called, Ren giving a quick nod and aiming his bow before leaping away from the oncoming stinger. The Scorpius used its pincers to crush the rocks placed in front of it, Jaune rubbing his chin in thought. "We need to stun it… hrm… Pyrrha, throw your spear at its head!" he ordered, the Atlesian fighter pulling back and launching the spear straight at the massive insect Grimm.

The spear lodged itself into the Scorpius' skull, the Grimm barely reacting to it as climbed over the rubble of Nora's rock wall and advanced on team ANVL. Ren aimed his bow straight on, firing an arrow of violet energy that touched the spear, sending lightning straight into the Scorpius. The Scorpius spasmed, leading out another shrill click of pain and fury as its body went limp. Nora charged straight for the Scorpius. "Nora! What are you doing?! The Scorpius could get up at any second!" Pyrrha shouted to her teammate, moving to chase after her when Jaune stuck out his arm to stop her.

"Wait.. I don't think she's attacking it…" Jaune said, watching as Nora leapt onto the Scorpius, which had begun to stir from its paralysis. The Scorpius lifted its pincers slowly, moving to pinch down on Nora as she pulled off her gloves, gripping her bare hands to Pyrrha's spear and channeling as much lightning as she could through her body. The Scorpius' pincers stopped in mid-air and its body began to convulse, Nora letting out a cry of fury as she continued what Ren and Pyrrha had started. "It's like the spear is a lightning rod and Nora is the storm. The Scorpius can't move, we've got a better shot at it." Jaune explained as Ren pulled the lightning cartridge from his bow, pulling out a cartridge of wind dust.

"Then all we need to do is cut the stinger and then try to damage its head." Ren said, Jaune nodding his head in confirmation.

"Exactly. Nora's giving us the opening, now we take the shot and-" he explained as a loud screech pierced the air. The trio turned and saw the Nevermore swoop down from behind them. Ren quickly fired the wind arrow, hitting the avian Grimm in the head, the Nevermore responding by hitting Ren with the full force of its wing, sending him to the ground. "Ren!" Jaune and Pyrrha shouted in unison, running over to their fallen teammate. As they went to check on him, a red blur streaked past, chasing after the Nevermore with Blake running behind it.

"Damn it! How did we lose its attention?" Blake asked, Ruby slowing down to allow her friend to catch up.

"It's probably all of the noise and dancing lights of the lightning they're using, it distracted the bird more than we could!" Ruby said as she hopped from pillar to pillar of the dilapidated shrine, Blake following her on the ground.

"Then we'll need to do something bigger to distract it." Blake said, looking around the shrine for something to knock over and keep the Nevermore's attention on them. Before she could answer, she heard Yang yelling out from above them and looked up to see her partner diving off the tallest pillar as it was falling to the ground and landing on top of the Nevermore. She and Ruby came to a stop and stared up at the sky, seeing Yang's aura glowing around the black feathers of the Nevermore.

"Ruby… is all of your family this insane?" Blake asked, Ruby shrugging her shoulders.

"Why do something complicated if you can be direct about it?" Ruby replied with a smile, Blake chuckling as they ran to catch up with the Nevermore.

Yang climbed up the Nevermore's head, gritting her teeth as the wind blew her hair in every direction. She soon made it onto the back of the Nevermore's head, reared back her fist and with struck it with a burning punch. The Nevermore speed up in the direction of the punch, nearly sending the blonde off its back had Yang not tightened her grip. "Come on, you overgrown pigeon!" Yang shouted, slamming her fist into the side of its head as the fire began to leave trails of burning feathers behind them, the Nevermore turning in the direction of the strike. Yang continued her violent steering, driving the avian beast further and further down toward the shrine as her teammates ran to evade the Nevermore. "Down! Down! Dow-" Yang shouted with each shot, looking to see the shrine coming closer and closer into view. "Oh shit!" she shouted as the Nevermore crashed into the shrine, the force off the landing knocking her off its back, Yang desperately twisting in midair to catch the bridge as she began to fall. She grabbed onto the edge of the bridge, her hand digging deeply into it as she halted her fall, sighing in relief and looking down.

"Damn… that's quite the fall…" she said as the Nevermore's body slowly slid off the remains of the shrine and fell into the waiting abyss. "Hah! The bigger they are the harder they-" Yang began to taunt as she heard a cracking from above her. The dangling Huntress looked up to see the stone of the bridge she had buried her hand in began to crumble and crack, soon breaking off completing and dropping her. "NOOOO!" she shouted, flailing her arms in the hopes of catching anything to stop her fall. She felt another hand grab hers, looking to see Blake looking down at her.

"Just make sure my beret doesn't fall off, okay?" Blake said, Yang smiling in relief.

"You're a damned magician!" Yang said.

"I picture myself more like a ninja, but I'll take magician." Blake said as they began to rappel upwards to a nearby cliff. They soon stopped at the top of the cliff face, climbing up to the top of the cave. "We'd better get moving. It's a long way back to the bridge from here." Blake said, Yang nodding as the two ran off.

"Feuer!" Weiss shouted as she pulled Myrtenaster's trigger, slashing the air and creating a blast of fire energy that struck the Scorpius, spinning the barrel a second time.

"If you land on water, try going for a combination of it and lightning for increased lightning!" Jaune said, Weiss nodding and watching as Ren and Nora moved in closer, seeing the Scorpius fighting against Nora's assault of lightning and begin to lift its pincers. Pyrrha threw her shield out while Ren shot out a wind arrow, the two attacks hitting the pincers and grounding them again as they got closer and closer.

"Wasser!" Weiss shouted, shooting water into the residual wind of Ren's arrow, causing a steady rain of water to pour down onto the battlefield. "Ren, Pyrrha, I'm charging my attack!" Weiss shouted spinning her revolver at the hilt of her blade. "Krieg!" she shouted as electricity began to charge up the length of her blade, some of the lightning discharging the rock around her and causing debris to fly into the air.

The Scorpius aimed its stinger at Weiss once Nora began to run out of electricity, shrieking and shooting a jets of bright green acid at her that forced her to roll to the side, the ground where she was once standing slowly getting dissolved into bubbles and smoke as it began to sink into the ground. "We need to do something about it's stinger!" Jaune shouted as he stood over Weiss' shoulder watching his two teammates perform a pincer attack on each side. Ren dove forward into the air, shooting a bolt of wind at the Grimm's stinger as it fired another shot of acid, sending it far off target and partially severing the appendage. Pyrrha pulled back her shield, arcs of magnetic electricity coursing through the shield as she threw it, slicing the stinger from the tail. The stinger fell straight down, the Scorpius swinging a pincer at Nora in an effort to knock her off the spear embedded in its face. Nora quickly leapt off, the pincer swing back and striking Ren before he could react, sending him into a nearby boulder and leaving him unconscious.

"Ren!" Nora shouted as she landed, running to get to her friend when the Scorpius lifted another pincer.

"Nora! Jump!" Jaune shouted, Nora quickly onto the pincer as it landed, burying itself in the bridge. The Scorpius struggled to removed its claw, rain still pouring onto the Scorpius from the cloud. The gears in Nora's head quickly turned, giving her an idea as she unhooked a small black leather pouch from her belt.

"Pyrrha! Get Ren out of here!" Nora shouted, Pyrrha quickly running off and grabbing Ren's unconscious body and carrying it off. "Jaune! Catch!" Nora called, throwing the pouch over her shoulder to him. Jaune quickly caught it, opening up the contents of the pouch as Weiss stopped her assault. Inside was the amalgamated Fire and Thunder crystal.

"Wait a minute? Is this Ragnarok? Why are you giving me this?" Jaune asked, Nora responded with a manic grin and a familiar gleam in her eyes.

"Because I won't be needing it! All I need is to catch the heart of the storm! Charge your lightning as much as you can, Weiss!" Nora shouted, Weiss nodding and pointing Myternster at the cloud. The blade glowed brighter and brighter with each second, Nora raising her right hand into the air with three fingers held. She dropped down to two fingers, then one and shouted "NOW!" as she punched the Scorpius' pincer hard.

The insect Grimm lifted its pincer out of the ground hard, letting out a shriek of pain as it launched the nomadic Huntress into the air over the Scorpius. She soared through the air, hand outstretched as Weiss launched a massive disc of lightning into the sky. Nora jumped through the ring as she entered the cloud, unhooking Magnhild with her free hand and quickly turning in midair, lightning coursing through every inch of her body. She lifted Magnhild over her head as she began her descent, letting out a mighty battlecry as she slammed the warhammer down onto the stinger Within seconds, the Scorpius let out a louder shriek as lightning coursed through its body, Nora gripping the warhammer with both hands and letting out a scream of "FREYA'S SPIRIT GUIDE MY STORM!"

Weiss and Jaune covered their eyes as bright flashes of lightning filled the sky, thunder roaring loudly throughout the plateau. When the explosions died down, Jaune and Weiss opened their eyes to see a massive crater where the Scorpius stood, Nora lying in the center. "Holy crap! NORA!" Jaune shouted, drawing all the strength he had into running toward the crater, Weiss laying down glyphs in front of him to boost him momentum and get him there faster.

Jaune jumped into the crater, kicking up a thick black ash with each step as me made it to the center. "Nora! Nora, are you alright?" Jaune asked, offering her a hand up. Nora let out a weak chuckle and took his hand, slowly getting to her feet.

"I did it… I wielded the heart of the storm and slayed the Scorpius…" Nora said between breaths of air. Pyrrha soon stepped out of the forest, carrying Ren by his shoulder. Team ANVL slowly made their way to the bridge, joining Weiss, who simply stared in awe at what she was witnessing.

"We… we just killed a Scorpius... " Weiss said, nearly losing her grip on Myrtenaster.

"We did more than kill it… we disintegrated it." Jaune said as three pairs of footsteps followed behind his team. Ruby, Blake and Yang ran through the crater and onto the bridge, all three with expressions that matched their teammate's.

"Holy crap, Nora! How did you even do that?!" Yang said loudly, voicing everyone's thoughts at the moment.

"Well, I can't say I didn't have help on this one." Nora said before pulling away from Jaune and moving to grab Ren.

The shock of the Scorpius' death soon wore off, Ruby clearing her throat. "Well, the Scorpius is dead and the Nevermore's going to be in that hole for a while. We may have enough time to get to the rendezvous point without needing to camp out for the night. Let's get going before the sun… sets… what are you guys looking at?" Ruby said as everyone's eyes began to move upward toward the sky, a shadow looming over the youngest Huntress. Her eyes widened and she silently muttered "no…" before turning and seeing the Nevermore behind them, flapping its wings weakly as it floated against the sun. The Nevermore let out an angry screech and swooped down upon the humans.

"RUN!" Ruby shouted, the eight Hunters beating feet as fast as they could, Jaune's legs giving out under him and bringing him to his knees. Pyrrha turned back and grabbed him in time as the Nevermore smashed into the bridge, Pyrrha leaping into the crater. The Nevermore squawked again as it returned to the air. "Pyrrha, Nora! You get Jaune and Ren out of here! Get to a safe spot and fire your flare gun to signal an evac!" Ruby commanded, Pyrrha nodding and working to get Jaune onto her back.

"What about you guys?" Jaune asked, Ruby turning to face the Nevermore.

"We're knocking that bird out of the sky!" Ruby shouted, almost daring the Nevermore to dive at them again. Team ANVL made their way through the forest, the Nevermore turning and searching for the humans. Once it had them in its sights, the giant avian beast arced back its wings, the remaining Huntresses watching with weapons drawn to see what it would do.

They got their answer when with a single flap, black feathers rained down upon them, the team running from the crater as the feathers pierced the ground. One of the feathers pierced Ruby's cape, pinning her down and catching her neck as he ran. "Anh! Guys! I'm stuck!" Ruby called, her team turning back and running over to her. Weiss set black glyphs around them to protect them from the shower of feathers while Yang and Blake worked on pulling the feather out of the ground. The Nevermore dove for them again, Weiss creating a larger black glyph. The Nevermore slammed into the glyph, breaking it and creating a shockwave that sent Weiss flying into a nearby tree.

"Weiss!" Blake exclaimed, running to check on her as Yang finally freed her sister. Ruby quickly slashed the Nevermore in the face with her scythe before running to join Blake and Weiss.

"I'm still conscious… ow… but we have to keep moving. He can't find us in a forest…" Weiss explained, Ruby shaking her head.

"He'd just draw more Grimm towards us if we went into the forest. We have to fight him here." Ruby said, turning to see the Nevermore fly up and away from them. Ruby looked at the destroyed remains of the shrine and bridge, looking and seeing only the other cliff face. "I think I've got a plan! Weiss, how many glyphs can you make?" Ruby asked, Weiss blinking and shaking her head a bit.

"How many do you need?" Weiss asked back, Ruby turning and pointing to the other cliff.

"Enough to get me from this cliff to there. I'm gonna charge it head on." Ruby said, everyone staring at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Ruby, listen to yourself! You're charging into an attack with a Nevermore and there's only four of us here!" Blake said. "You can't seriously think that you'll be able to do any damage to it, do you?" she asked, Ruby simply nodding and smiling.

"Blake's right, it's too risky. Besides, it's too much to ask Weiss to make this many glyphs. It could kill her!" Yang shouted, Ruby's smile faltering slightly.

"...I'll do it." Weiss said, Blake and Yang turning to her.

"What?!" they shouted in unison.

"We haven't got many options left. This is our only chance. Besides, a Schnee doesn't ever say something is too hard. They simply push themselves until they do it." she said with a calm determination in her voice as she began to form the first of many glyphs, starting with a black glyph. "Ruby, stand on the black glyph and begin charging your semblance. It will stop your momentum and keep you in place, allowing you to build up speed before I release it. Blake, you and Yang need to watch for any Grimm. If I get attacked during this I'll lose focus and launch Ruby into a cliff, we only have one shot." she said, Blake and Yang nodding and readying their weapons.

"Release the black glyph when the Nevermore comes back around." Ruby said as she stepped on the black glyph, shutting her eyes and focusing on her breathing. She began to shut out all the sounds around her, hearing only her heartbeat as her legs began to shake violently beneath her. She could feel the speed underneath and she waited for the moment when Weiss released the black glyph. When the Nevermore would come back to try and kill her and her sister. Her friend. Her partner. She pulled back her scythe, knowing she would have only one chance to hit the Nevermore and if she missed, she was dead. She heard Weiss' voice pierce the veil of silence around her.

"NOW!" Weiss shouted, the red-hooded Huntress shooting out like a crimson bullet, each glyph making her go faster. The Nevermore barely saw the human coming as Ruby caught its neck in her scythe, pushing them toward the cliff. Ruby felt time briefly slow down as she caught the Nevermore, looking to see the distance between them before time caught back up with her. She kept running, going across the canyon and onto the cliff.

The Nevermore slammed hard onto the cliff face, Ruby barely breaking stride as she ran straight up the cliff, guided by more of the white glyphs. She dragged the Nevermore screeching and struggling to escape as Crescent Rose trapped its head against the cliff. Ruby leapt off the final glyph, her scythe cutting through the Nevermore's neck and severing its from its body. Ruby landed on the ground, her knees buckling at the hardness of the landing. She managed to catch herself on a nearby tree, turning and weakly grabbing a crystal of light dust from her bag. She smashed the crystal against the tree, the flash of light resulting in a faint cheer from the other side of the cliff. "I did it…" she said with a smile before falling onto the grass, passing out.

"She did it! Aw man! That was awesome! I'm so proud of my little sister!" Yang said with a huge smile, turning to see Blake and Weiss on the ground, passed out. Yang gave them a tired smile, starting to feel her adrenaline fade away. "Well… It was more like _we_ did it" she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a red flare gun. She loaded the gun and aimed up into the sky, firing off a red spark before falling back onto the ground herself. Yang looked into the evening sky and in the distance, as the sun set behind her, she saw a blue spark shoot out and burst.


	51. Initiation

A week had passed since Beacon Academy's newest crop of students had completed their final exam, many of them resting in the medical wing and licking their wounds. Ruby was woken by the PA system. "All first-year students please report to the auditorium backstage. All other students please enter through the front." the speaker announced, repeating the message as Ruby rubbed her eyes, letting out a groan and grabbing an almost-empty glass of water from her bedside table, finishing it off and jumping out of her bed. She changed out of her pajamas into her uniform, clasping her cape onto it. She looked down at her legs, which had been heavily bandaged with cuts, a parting gift of crashing her whole body into a cliff. She put on her shoes and turned to the rest of her team as they tossed aside their bed curtains.

Yang's torn off sleeves made her wounds more obvious as her arms were bandaged just as much as Ruby's legs. The arm bandages were a sample of the rest of the bruises that had covered her whole body after crashing the Nevermore. Weiss was rubbing her temples as she drank down a nearby set of headache medication, her head still recovering from Semblance burnout. Blake managed to walk out of the hospital unscathed, a complete reversal of her performance in the entrance exam. "Morning, team. You guys ready for the Naming Ceremony?" Ruby asked, the rest of her team nodding and beginning the walk to the auditorium. As they made their way to the auditorium, they were joined by Team ANVL, who looked much better off than them, barring Nora being covered in bandages like Yang and the heavy lids of Jaune and Pyrrha. Ren was walking with closed eyes, trying to focus only on his breathing and not the aftermath of the concussion he had received from the Scorpius.

Jaune walked over to Ruby, walking alongside her. "Hey, Ruby. So, Naming Ceremony, huh? You got any idea what the team's gonna be called?" Jaune asked, Ruby shaking her head.

"Weiss had looked up the system they used, it's usually an acronym of an initial from each team member's name." Ruby explained, Jaune nodding in understanding.

"Oh, so like Team ANVL." he said with a smile, Ruby chuckling a bit.

"Exactly. We've been trying to figure out ours for a while, but nothing's really come up. Yang suggested it'd be team BXWR, Blake thinks it could be WYBR… she was really burning the midnight oil when she came up with that one." she said in an undertone, Blake adjusting her beret slightly as she glared at the young Huntress, Ruby chuckling nervously and waving. "I'm thinking it's BRWL and Weiss thinks it'll be RBYS." she finished, Jaune rubbing his chin in thought.

"Well, guess we won't know until we get called up." he said, the group entering a line of students who were chatting excitedly about their victories in the exam as they were corralled into the back of the auditorium, hidden behind the velvet curtains.

Ruby snuck a quick glance and saw the remaining students file into seats in the auditorium. Spotting Team CFVY, she waved over to Velvet, who smiled and waved back, before feeling her cape being tugged at. Ruby was soon pulled back to her team, Glynda Goodwitch clearing her throat. "As I was saying… passing teams from each test will enter when their designated test number is called. When your team name has been announced, you will leave the stage and join the rest of the students and sit through the remainder of the ceremony." Glynda explained, the students all listening carefully. The Emerald Forest students were fourth to go, sitting in the back and waiting as teams from the tests before them were named and their leaders chosen, the three teams growing restless as Professor Ozpin's voice droned throughout, the cheers of the students managing to keep them awake.

"And now, the three graduating teams of Testing Area #4: The Emerald Forest." Ozpin announced, the twelve hunters snapping back to reality and getting back to their feet. Glynda looked over the students, given them last minute directions to make them look more presentable. "Congratulations. All of you." she said before stepping aside, allowing the teams to pass to cheers from the crowd. Ozpin tapped gently on the floor with his cane, silencing the crowd. "Dove Bronzewing, for showcasing incredible bravery and solidarity with fellow students." Zzpin said, video large video screens showing Dove fighting off a Beowolf and him passing on information to Blake and Yang. "Sky Lark, for showing keen espionage and camouflage tactics. Russell Thrush, for great intellect and strong team dynamic and Cardin Winchester for managing to guide his team to the shrine in the shortest time. These four had chosen the black bishop pieces and henceforth shall be known as Team CRDL, led by Cardin Winchester."

The crowd cheered, though Ruby had noticed Team CFVY's silence from the crowd, Coco gripping the arms of her chair and gritting her teeth. It looked as though she was resisting the urge to boo and jeer the newly-christened team, a sentiment that many on the stage would agree with. Team CRDL soon stepped down and headed to their seats, Ozpin nodding to them with a cold sternness in his eyes. Cardin fidgeted slightly at this look before turning and trying to play it off to Russell and Sky. "Our next team… Jaune Arc, for his brilliance in combat and great chivalry." Ozpin said, showing footage of Jaune confronting the Scorpius and giving orders to his team, and his mid-air rescue of Weiss. "Ren Lie, for his quick reflexes and excellent use of Dust." Ozpin said, showing footage of Ren's fight with the Ouroboros and his use of ice, wind and lightning arrows. "Pyrrha Nikos, who took great risks to secure the safety of her comrades." Clips now showed her pulling Jaune away from separate Grimm attacks. "Nora Valkyrie, whose power and courage know no bounds." Footage of her being eaten by an Ouroboros and her destruction of the Scorpius. "You had all gathered the white rook pieces and henceforth shall be known as Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc." Ozpin said, the crowd cheering again, though Jaune himself looked rather down.

Pyrrha put her hand on his shoulder, Jaune turning to his partner. "Jaune, is something wrong?" she asked, Jaune giving a small smile.

"Nothing, it's just… I'm gonna miss being ANVL." he said, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren smiling back at him as they stepped off the stage. Cardin got up from his seat, looking at Jaune in awe.

"Jaune… what you did back there… that was something else." he said, offering Jaune a hand. Jaune hesitated, glancing to his teammates, who nodded to him. He turned to Ruby's team, all shaking their heads. His head moved to Velvet, who gave a thumbs up, Jaune smiling and shaking Cardin's hand.

"Thanks, Cardin. Good job on making it there first." Jaune said before following his team to their seats, getting a few rows behind CFVY.

"Blake Belladonna, much like Ms. Nikos, had made every effort to protect her partner." Ozpin began, the crowd seeing damaged footage of Blake catching Yang mid-fall and bringing her back up. "Ruby Rose, who charged bravely into battle in spite of the odds placed upon her and her team." Screens now showed Ruby charging at the Scorpius with her teammates and JNPR and later readying her scythe to attack the Nevermore. "Weiss Schnee, with unwavering confidence in battle, impressive coordination with others and who pushed her body to its limits to secure victory for her team." the screens now showing Weiss fighting alongside Team JNPR and her straining to hold several glyphs. "And finally, Yang Xiao-Long, for not only her sheer brutality in battle but her willingness to remind others of the true danger we face." the footage showed Yang in her battle against the Ursa, steering the Nevermore with her fist before the footage cut out and pats of her speech to Ruby and Weiss that had survived the shrine crash. "You have claimed the white knight pieces and henceforth shall be known as Team RWBY. Lead by… Ruby Rose." Ozpin said with a smile, the crowd erupting into cheers once more.

Ruby's face was not that of joy at first, but of dawning realization. "Ohhhhhhhhh… Team RWBY, that makes sen-" Ruby said before suddenly being grabbed and pulled into a painful hug by her older sister.

"Yang! Ow! Lemme go!" Ruby said, her sister loosening her grip slightly before Ruby started to reciprocate the hug.

"I'm proud of you, sis…" she whispered softly into Ruby's ear, Ruby smiling as tears of joy welled up in her eyes. The two separated, Weiss putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"Congratulations on becoming team leader… now don't mess it up. I am second in command of this team and if you make any mistakes, I am allowed to remove you from that position." she warned, Ruby giving her a quick smirk.

"Who said anything about you being assigned second in command?" Ruby asked jokingly, Weiss giving a shocked look as she tried to sputter out an argument.

"B-but! My initial is second in the name! Without me, there wouldn't be a team RWBY! It'd be Team RBY!" Weiss said, spelling out each letter individually.

"That still makes 'ruby' Weiss." Blake said with a jovial tone, Weiss turning to argue with her before stopping, looking at Blake and starting to laugh herself, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Ohohohohoho~ Okay, you guys got me there…" Weiss said as they headed to their seats.

Team RWBY sat in the row in front of team JNPR, the two teams exchanging congratulations, hugs and handshakes as Team CFVY slowly got up from their seats, making tracks to leave the auditorium. "Hey, where's Team CFVY going?" Ruby asked, pointing them out to rest of her team.

"No idea, maybe they just wanted to stick around for team namings and then get in some extra training." Yang said with a shrug, sitting in her seat to watch the rest of the team namings. Ruby sat down as well, the teams from Testing Area #5 stepped out onto the stage. The ceremony went on for another three hours, the fully named teams being given their room numbers. The teams headed off to gather their things and enter their new dorm room. RWBY and JNPR walked in unison, chatting away as they headed to team RWBY's dorm first.

"Wow… this is so cool... " Ruby said, heart filled with joy as she turned the doorknob.

"...Do you guys hear music play-AhHH!" Blake said as Ruby opened the door and there teams were immediately hit with a bright flash of light.

"SURPRISE!" exclaimed Team CFVY to the stunned teams, Velvet holding up her camera and taking another picture. The inside of the room was covered in balloons and streamers, small tables of snacks and drinks and a full stereo system pushed against the window playing loud, funky music. The bunk beds, bookshelves and nightstands that made up the room's furniture had been pushed back slightly to make room for everything, the two teams staring in awe at the decorations and snacks as Coco pulled out her shotgun, firing out a shot of confetti. The two teams jumped at the sound of a gun firing before watching the shredded paper fall to the floor.

"Whoa… you guys set this up in three hours?" Jaune asked, Coco shrugging her shoulders and firing another round of shotgun confetti.

"When I wanna put together a party, I can get it done in no time. Trickiest part was figuring out what room to go to, but we were in luck because Professor Goodwitch saw us out of the auditorium and she said where Team RWBY was gonna be bunking. She's kind of cool like that when you're not breaking rules." Coco explained as the teams stepped in. "Now quit standing there like a bunch of dorks and let's party!" Coco shouted, firing off another round of confetti.

Ruby immediately went for a slice of cake. "Cake. Time. Cake Time." she said in a mantra, looking for ice cream to scoop onto the cake. She grabbed the small tub of strawberry ice cream, putting scoop after scoop onto her slice of cake until the cake was crushed under the weight of the ice cream.

"Having a bit of cake with your ice cream, Ruby? Ohohohohoho~" Weiss said, letting out her signature laugh.

"I like strawberries." Ruby said, taking a bite of her ice cream and looking for a corner to sit in and eat. Weiss grabbed a slice of cake, walking over to one of the bunk beds and sitting next to Blake, who was reading a book.

"So, what are you reading?" Weiss asked, Blake smirking and barely looking away.

"I'm reading a book." she said bluntly, Weiss sighing and shaking her head.

"I can see that, but what book is it?" Weiss asked, hoping to get a clear answer this time.

" _The Order of Nightshade_ , series about a group of assassins who realize being assassins doesn't make you any friends." Blake said.

"Sounds… dark." Weiss said, Blake rolling her eyes.

"It's actually kind of cheesy, but there's nothing wrong with cheesy writing as long as it doesn't take itself too seriously." Blake said, turning the page.

"You know, Blake, since this morning I've been thinking of how different things have been since we first arrived here at Beacon." Weiss began, Blake looking up from her book.

"Yeah? How so?" Blake asked.

"Well, when I came here, I wanted to uphold the Schnee family legacy, Ruby was an annoying farmgirl… still is at times. You were a bookworm, Yang was a violent maniac," Weiss continued, Blake speaking out of turn.

"Jury's still out on whether or not she's any different." Blake commented, Weiss chuckling a bit before continuing further.

"And Jaune was some loser who vomited in the airship. But now, I'm teammates with the three people I wanted to be around the least, Jaune's an actual hero and the person who I spent a good chunk of my life hating for what they did to me… is my best friend." Weiss said, Blake smiling and putting down the book.

"Yeah, that is weird. The same thing with me and Yang. I thought she was gonna hate me for life, but now we're cool with each other." she said as Yang stepped up to the bunk bed, grabbing Blake by the arm.

"C'mon, Blake! It's a party! You can't just sit around and read the whole time! Shake a leg, partner!" Yang said with a huge grin, Blake resisting her.

"Yang, let go. It's our party and I can read if I want to, and I plan on making it through this party without a single leg shaken." Blake deadpanned, Yang pulling tighter.

"C'moooooon! Don't be boring, you're being boring right now, Fun time is upon you!" Yang said, shouting over Coco screaming behind them, firing confetti into the air from her pistols. Blake struggled to get her arm free, Yang giving a big pull that brought the raven-haired huntress toppling onto her partner.

"Oh dear! Blake are you alright?" Velvet said, running over to help her up.

"I'm fine, just a bit of roughhousing really… what's everyone staring at?" Blake asked as the room had suddenly gone quiet. Ruby quickly ran and grabbed something off the floor, Weiss putting her hands to her mouth in shock and Yang slowly getting up and backing away slightly from Blake.

"H-hey Blake, it's cool, right? We're cool? I didn't mean to-" Yang sputtered out, Blake staring hard at her.

"Didn't mean to what…" Blake said, looking as Ruby handed her a black beret. Blake's eyes widened as she quickly grabbed the beret and put it back on. The party continued and awkward silence, Blake darting her eyes nervously at JNPR and CFVY, waiting for one of them to say something, anything.

"Well, it looks like the cat's out of the bag." Velvet said with a resigned smile. Weiss got up from the bed, walking over to her former servant.

"Wait… you know she was a Faunus?" Weiss asked, Velvet nodding.

"Well, of course. After Cardin and his crew bullied me on the first day, Blake came by to comfort me, showed me her ears and told me I wasn't alone and if there was anyone she needed to talk to, that I should come see her." Velvet said Blake smiling a nodding.

"Yes, and that offer still stands. So… I'm a Faunus, I won't go into full details as to why I'm disguise, since it's a party, but if anyone has any problems with that, I'll see myself out." Blake offered, Jaune putting a hand on her shoulder.

"There's no problem here. It's pretty neat." he said, his team backing up his comment.

"There's no reason for you to think we'd turn our backs on you based on your heritage, Blake. You had your reasons to hide it, but we liked you as a human and we'll keep liking you as a Faunus." Pyrrha added, Nora and Ren nodding as Coco put an arm around Blake.

"And given that we have Velvet on our team, you know we're cool. Meeyow." she said with a playful paw motion, Blake glaring at her hard.

"Don't ever do that again. And Yang, no cat puns or I will cut out your tongue." she threatened, Yang groaning.

"Aww man, but then the cat will really have my tongue." Yang said before running off, Blake breaking away from the others and chasing after her. "Before you tell me to get out right meow…" Yang said as she headed for the door.

"Yang! Stop!" Blake shouted back as the two ran out into the hall.

"Come on, Blake! You really want to start a game of cat and mouse wi-" Yang began before letting out a yelp.

"Get back here!" Blake shouted, everyone staring in confusion.

...Should we go separate them?" Weiss asked, turning to Ruby.

"Eh, they're adults, they'll figure it out. In the meantime, let's party!" Ruby shouted, the rest of the partygoers cheering.

Nora and Yatsuhashi began to arm wrestle, Fox and Ren overseeing the match while Jaune and Pyrrha were having a quiet conversation. "I… I don't know if I can do it, Pyrrha. What if she says no?" Jaune asked, wringing his hands as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"It's fine, Jaune. Just draw on the courage you had when you helped her and you'll do just fine." Pyrrha said, patting him on the back in encouragement.

"R-right, you got my back, right?" he asked, Pyrrha nodding and giving him a small push up to the bed. Jaune took a deep gulp, knees shaking as he walked over to Velvet. "H-hey, Velvet… can I ask you something?" Jaune asked, Velvet turning around from her conversation with Coco.

"Sure, Jaune. What is it?" Velvet sad, Jaune looking at Pyrrha, who gave him a thumbs up.

"Would you like to… go candles with me or something? He asked, stumbling over his words.

"Ah! Ah… sure, Jaune. That sounds lovely." Velvet said, her face turning slightly red.

"...Did he just say 'go candles'?" Coco asked, Velvet elbowing her in the side.

"So… uh… maybe after the school year ends? You know, when we're not on missions…" Jaune said, unable to back away thanks to Pyrrha.

"S-sure, I'd like that." Velvet said, trying to keep her eyes on Jaune as they talked.

Ruby laughed a bit as she headed out into the hall, happy for Jaune but still finding the awkwardness quite funny. She sat down with a piece of paper and a pen and began to write.

 _Hey Dad,_

 _I think making things short and sweet will probably help me since last time I wrote one of these I ran out of paper… I managed to pass the exams and I've officially become a huntress! I'll be sure to mail you a copy of the license so you can hang it up on the big wall of accomplishments along with mom's, yours, Auntie Raven's and Uncle Crow's licenses. And I'll get Yang to send her a copy of hers. We're on the same team! It's great! We're part of Team RWBY. And no, I didn't come up with the team name. Gonna be really confusing during mission briefings. Gonna be busy with missions for a while, so I might not get your return letter right away. Tell Uncle Crow and Zwei the big news! Hope you get this soon!_

 _\- Ruby_

Ruby finished the letter, heading off to the front office to drop off the letter, not using her semblance due to the heavy bandaging of her legs. She dropped the letter off, hearing Weiss call for her. "Ruby! Hurry up! Velvet's planning a big team picture!" she yelled.

"Coming!" Ruby called back, heading back for Team RWBY's dorm room. Weiss headed off to find Blake and Yang as Ruby entered, seeing team CFVY in their signature pose and JNPR joined with them. Ren was sitting in a lotus position on Nora's back as she was doing push-ups, Jaune and Pyrrha knelt down next to them in front of Coco. The rest of Team RWBY soon met back up, looking for positions in front of the camera. Blake sat down next to Velvet, matching her trigger finger gesture. Ruby took a seat spot between Fox and Coco while Weiss put herself between Velvet and Blake, putting her arms around them both for a big hug. Yang stood next to Coco, showing off her guns with a big grin.

"3...2...1!" Velvet said, the collected teams putting on big smiles only for the camera to stay still and not flash. "Oh… I think I forgot to set the camera…" Velvet said, grinning sheepishly at the others.

"I've got it!" Ruby said, getting up and adjusting the camera, preparing the shot to go off in 10 seconds before rushing back, tripping over an untied lace of her shoe and falling over with a flip, crashing into the assembled teams, knocking everyone out of place as the camera flashed multiple times, taking several shots.

The Final photo had Ruby on top of Jaune, Coco and Yang, resting her head on her arm as they struggled underneath her. Velvet had her mouth covered in surprise while Blake covered her face in her hands. Weiss was angrily glaring at her partner while Pyrrha had tripped over Nora and Ren in surprise, lying on top of them, wearing a face of bewilderment as Ren's legs shot into the air, Nora laughing off the whole thing. Fox simply shrugged, having dodged the oncoming Huntress while Yatsuhashi looked down in confusion.

"Welcome to Beacon… it's sort of like this, but for three more years…"


	52. Revolution

On the outskirts of the Kingdom of Vale stood an old, abandoned mansion with a large clock tower in its center. At the top of this clock tower, a man in a fine white jacket and black pants sat under the rim of the clock, lighting up a cigar and watching the rain pour down on the empty street. He let out a puff of smoke, adjusting his bowler hat slightly. "Hrm… she's got five more minutes…" the man said, twirling a cane in his hand, silver wolf's head shining through his fingers. The clock ticked loudly above above him, each passing minute feeling slower and slower until he spotted something in the mist below, a small splotch of soft pink. "There ya go, kid. Always know the way back here…" he said with a chuckle, throwing down the cigar and snuffing it out with his cane. He swept the snuffed cigar off the tower, heading back inside through the door and down the stairs.

The man stepped out through the door at the bottom of the stairs, heading to the foyer where a young woman with long, curled brown hair was setting her pink parasol on a nearby hook. She was clad in a pink jacket, brown pants and white high-heeled boots that she was taking off. "Welcome home, Chloe. Got the paper?" the man asked as the woman set aside her boots. She turned around and looked to the older gentleman with chocolate brown eyes that match her hair, barring the pink streaks in the front. She smiled and reached into her jacket, pulling out a stack of papers and them to the man before heading off toward the kitchen. The man took off his bowler, revealing short orange hair, and set it on a nearby hook, before looking over the stack of papers. All of them were identical posters with his likeness on them. "Wanted: Roman Torchwick." they all read, posting similar rewards of 2 million Lien. "Heh, two million? The royals must be getting desperate to get rid of me…" Torchwick said with a smirk as he walked, entering the kitchen and putting the wanted posters on the table.

Chloe pulled open the oven to look inside at what Roman had been cooking, seeing a chicken roasting an inviting golden color. Her mouth watered as the oven door shut behind her. "Still needs a bit of time to fully roast. Now, I sent you out for a bit of small work. You got the goods?" he asked, Chloe smiling and unhooking a small leather bag from her belt. The two headed into the living room, Chloe pouring out the contents of the bag. Lien coins poured out, followed by a bright red fire crystal. "Good work, kiddo." Torchwick said with a warm smile, ruffling Chloe's hair. "Keep an eye on the bird, would ya? I'm gonna get a fire going. Rain's coming down harder every minute." Roman said as Chloe got up and left for the kitchen. Torchwick grabbed the fire crystal as he made his way to the fireplace, grabbing a few dried logs. He wrapped the logs in the wanted posters, placing them into the fireplace and putting the fire crystal in the middle of them. He clicked on his lighter, but no flame appeared.

"Huh? The hell?" Torchwick said, shaking the lighter a bit before flicking it back on, but there was no flame still. "Come on… just give me a little spark!" he groused, struggling with his usually faithful lighter.

"Good evening, Roman…" said a voice from the doorway. Roman turned and chuckled a bit as he saw a woman with long black hair with a red streak and amber eyes, clad in a crimson suit dress and black heels, standing in the foyer. She was flanked by two others. To her right was a young woman with medium-brown skin, blonde hair with a green streak to match the red of her superior and eyes, dressed in an olive green shirt, brown pants and black heels. To the black-haired woman's left was a young man with jet black hair and blue eyes wearing gray and black two-tone zip jacket and black pants with matching black boots.

"Oh look, you brought the kids along… and it looks like one of them changed a bit. Got tired of the old man look, Mercury?" Roman teased, the young man rolling his eyes and leaning himself against the wall.

"Laugh it up, jackass. You won't be laughing when Cinder lights a fire under your-" Mercury said before being hit with a swift, strike to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him to the floor.

"First rule of the House of Torchwick, kid: Don't call me a jackass... " he muttered to the fallen Mercury, grabbing a handful of his hair. "And if you even think about keeping that mouth running, I swear I'll rip each one of your damn teeth out with a pair of pliers, got it?" he said, shoving the teen away and turning the black-haired woman, the blonde girl helping her downed comrade to his feet. "So Cinder, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company tonight?" he asked, Cinder smirking and stepping further into the manor.

"I just wanted to talk to you about our plan going forth… and perhaps stay for a bit of dinner. It does smell quite heavenly in here, Roman." she said with a seductive note in her voice.

Torchwick nodded and turned his head toward the kitchen. "Chloe! We're gonna need three more plates set up! We have company!" he called, hearing the clatter of plates and forks being pulled out. Within minutes, Roman, Cinder and her acolytes were sat around a large mahogany table with full plates, Chloe walking around the table with a bottle of red wine. "Don't pour any wine for the kids, Chloe. We might have some milk for them in the fridge." Torchwick said with a smirk and a wink, Chloe winking back and heading for the kitchen. Mercury quickly grabbed the wine bottle from Chloe as she walked by, pouring himself a glass before passing it to Emerald, who sat on the other side of Cinder.

"We're not here to be talked down to, especially not by some two-bit crook like you, Roman." Emerald said as she poured her drink, Cinder turning and glaring at her.

"I think that's enough from you, Emerald…" she threatened, Emerald going quiet within seconds before Cinder turned her eyes back to Roman.

"You can take that smirk off your face, Roman. If I recall, you had promised me that you would bring me Ironwood's apprentice. Do you intend to keep that promise or do you simply hope to fail me again?" Cinder asked, Roman's smirk faltering slightly.

"I would've had her if it weren't for that red-hooded brat from Beacon." Torchwick said, Mercury letting out a scoff.

"Wow, would you listen to this. Master thief Roman Torchwick couldn't handle a child. Maybe you're not all that's- AHHH!" Mercury said before suddenly jumping out of his seat as his slice of chicken quickly caught fire. The black-haired teen turned with fearful eyes at the cold glare of his boss. Cinder turned her gaze back to the white-suited thief.

"I will say I envy you, Roman. Your subordinate doesn't talk back." she said, giving a quick glance to Chloe, who was seated next to Torchwick and happily eating her dinner. "But we're not here to make small talk. Let's get down to business. We have the numbers necessary for this plan thanks to your Red Lantern Family, the Black Fang allegiance and the generous offers of Mr. Julian." Cinder said, spinning her finger around the rim of her wine glass.

"Sounds like things are all in order. If you don't mind, it might be good for us all to pull back a bit and wait for things to go quiet around here. Things are getting hairy in Vale and we'll need time to put whatever you're planning action." Torchwick said Cinder taking another sip of wine.

"There has been quite a bit of excitement recently, and not just in Vale, but agents in Atlas have noticed that General Ironwood's been tightening the bolt a bit more after the Red Lantern Pier incident. So perhaps a delay in the plan is in order" she said, nodding her head in agreement. .

"Okay, so what do you want me to do in the meantime?" Torchwick asked as he finished his dinner, downing the rest of his wine glass. Chloe sprung up to collect his dishes, Cinder taking another sip of wine.

"For now, I have nothing for you to do, Roman. In spite of your failure in procuring Ironwood's apprentice, you've done quite enough in brokering the deal with Arthur, forging the alliance with the Black Fang and the supplies you and your Red Lantern Family have stolen have been valuable for our plans in the future." she said with a smile.

"So, mind telling me what exactly this plan is? The money's good and all, and I'm glad that we have similar visions for the Kingdom, but how do you go about taking down the system if your own allies are left in the dark?" Torchwick asked, a low chuckle coming from Cinder in response.

"In due time, Roman, but we cannot risk you getting captured while everyone's on the hunt for you. And as good as you are at evading capture, the stakes are too high to go revealing everything to you at once and have them extract it out of you in jail. Have a little faith in me, Roman. You'll know exactly what will happen soon enough…" Cinder said before finishing her wine, Chloe taking her dishes and busing them into the kitchen.

Cinder stood up from her seat, heading for the door. "Emerald, Mercury. I think it's time we leave Mr. Torchwick. He knows his orders and you have your own. Come." Cinder said, Mercury and Emerald rising to their feet, Chloe returning to take away their dishes before slinking away again. The trio headed into the foyer, Emerald opening the door for Cinder. "Oh, and Roman?" Cinder said, drawing Torchwick's attention to her once more. "We'll be in touch very soon." she said with a smile, launching a blast of fire from her hand and into the hearth, lighting the kindling within on fire. Cinder stepped out into the misty night, Torchwick sighing in relief at not getting hit with a fireball and heading for the living room.

"This isn't even the opening act of my little show…"


End file.
